Chaos Unleashed
by RedHunter87
Summary: AU: When Future Gohan and Future Trunks travel back in time, they sets in motion a chain of events that ripple across several universes, unleashing the worst monster the multiverse has ever seen, and throwing several universes and timelines into chaos. Only Past Gohan has the hidden power to set things right. He must make a choice, defeat the evil or join it? Gohan centered story.
1. Chapter 1-Revisions

**Dies Irae **

**Android Saga **

**Chapter 1- Revisions**

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_Disclaimer: I don't own DB, DBZ, or DBGT. _

_A/N: Thoughts are in italics. Flashback is in bold. Big thanks to Chemistry-Deaf for being my beta reader, and for writing the flashback for this chapter._

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_Age 784 Future Timeline. Ruins of Capsule Corporation, West City_

"Be careful both of you." Bulma told them as Gohan and Trunks climbed into the time machine she had built for them. "Gohan you better bring my Trunks back to me alive and well." _She hadn't wanted to __agree to Trunks going back with Gohan, but he had grown leaps and bounds in power and skill since his first transformation into Super Saiyan four years ago. He trained hard and improved his ability to fight against the Androids. He fought them against her wishes at first, but it didn't take her long to understand that she had to let him do it and that she could no more stop him then she could have stopped Vegeta when he was alive. Still fighting them straight up had proved to be fruitless, even with both Gohan and Trunks fighting them. It was the very fact that all three of them understood that they just weren't going to be able to gain the power to defeat the Androids in this time that prompted them to consider that the solution lay in heading back in time. _"You will need this." She tossed Gohan a capsule with the cure for the heart virus in it. "Remember to make sure that Goku takes it. Its grape flavored, that is his favorite. He needs to take it before he gets sick, not when he gets sick, we already know the virus is in his system, this will kill it before it can even get started."

Gohan caught the capsule with his right hand, putting it away in his pocket. "Got it Bulma, don't worry, I will take good of Trunks, and also my dad." Gohan clinched his left fist after putting the capsule in his pocket. "I swear that I won't allow the past to suffer like our time line has. I know that my dad will make all the difference. I know he will figure out a way to defeat the Androids."

"I have the time machine programmed to take you back to five minutes before Frieza and King Cold landed. You can't allow your dad to fight because if he transforms that will trigger the virus."

Trunks sighed at his moms endless instructions. It wasn't like they hadn't gone over all of this many times before. "Mom don't worry we got it. See ya soon hopefully."

Gohan hit the button to close the time machine and was about to hit the button to travel back in time when Bulma held up a hand for them to stop. He opened the machine again as she walked back over.

"I almost forget." She pulled out a collection of data discs and handed them over to Gohan. "I made these up just last night. They contain all of my research on time travel and time machines, including the blueprints for how to build them. I want you to give them to my past counterpart just in case. That will save her a lot of work. But before you give them to her, I want you to get her to promise that she won't use them unless its needed. A lot of that tech shouldn't be used casually or made widely known. Just think of the damage that could be done if time travel was usable by anyone."

Gohan took the discs and gave Bulma a thumbs up. "Well we are off now." He closed the time machine and hit the buttons to start it up.

Bulma watched as the time machine vanished before heading back into Capsule Corporation . They better come back safely to her. She had a device on her belt programmed to set an alarm off if time energies were detected in her area so she wasn't worried about missing their return.

* * *

August Age 764 Past Timeline

The time machine flashed into existence in the rocky area behind where King Cold's ship was set to land. Mirai Gohan checked his watch as they got out of the time machine. He pushed a button on the side of the machine, causing it to revert back to its capsule form, putting it away in his jacket. "Trunks let's get into position, we have just five minutes before Frieza and King Cold land. Remember to hide your power. We can't have the other fighters picking up on it just yet."

Trunks touched the sword that was strapped across his back. "Got it Gohan. I think that you should let me go out and handle this myself, while you stay here hidden."

Gohan shot Trunks a puzzled look. That was a change to the plan they had made before leaving. "Why?"

"Well we forgot to consider that the others will likely be able to read your ki, and know that it is you. The goal is to disrupt this timeline as little as possible, outside of saving your dad and warning the others about the Androids right?"

Gohan nodded, checking his watch as he did. They still had time. "You might not be enough alone Trunks. If King Cold transforms, and his power scales in the same way that Frieza's does when transforming, you won't have enough power to defeat him if he reaches his final form. If we fight together, we can kill them before King Cold can transform."

Trunks laughed at Gohan's worry. He wasn't at all concerned about facing Frieza and his father, not after battling the Androids for years. Besides according to Gohan he was stronger then Goku was when he got back from Namek. "They won't last five minutes against me Gohan. You know that they are far too aggrogent to even consider working together against me. You were at the battle the first time, and you saw how they didn't fight together against Goku. Let me handle them both, you stay in the shadows with your power level suppressed, in case your needed...not that I will need your help against the likes of them. This is going to be a lot of fun." Trunks was looking forward to being on the winning side of combat for once.

M. Gohan spent a few moments considering Trunks plan, looking for flaws. "I like the idea of staying back in the shadows so that we change the timeline as little as possible outside of the changes that we want to make. Only we have a problem, my dad can sense energy and he will use IT to get down to the battlefield .Remember that his space pod is 3 hours behind Frieza's spaceship. Both of us were going to step in, and end this fight quickly so that he wouldn't have to come fight, thus never activating the heart virus. How do we stop him, if you get in trouble? Even if he doesn't fight if he comes down transformed, it will be enough to trigger the virus in his system."

"Seriously Gohan you need to relax, I got this. They will die by my hand. Then I can hand over the information and the cure to the virus to your father and we can head back to our timeline." Trunks flashed a smile as the watch beeped and the ship landed near them. "Time to do this." He rose into the air without waiting for Gohan to agree."

Mirai Gohan stepped off to the side, where he had a clear view of the transpiring events, and kept his power as low as possible.

* * *

Goku sensed the approaching powers in his saiyan attack pod._Damn it that was Frieza. How had he lived through what he I did to him and the planet exploding? And there is another power on board, one that is even stronger just as evil, even if whoever it is only using a fraction of their possible power. As soon as they landed he would... _Goku was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt another large power flare up for a second before being brought back to a level that was hard to sense from this distance. He extended his senses to keep a lock on the power. Goku checked the time till his pod was due to land. Still three hours. Could he afford to not go down there to check the situation out? None of the Earth's defenders could hope to defeat Frieza or that other power, but maybe this new power could.

* * *

I want you to spread out and find all of the Saiyan's friends," Frieza ordered his troops. "You have their profiles programmed into you're scouters. You are to kill them and bring their bodies here. Do not..." Frieza cut off his speech as a human dressed in a blue jacket and with a sword strapped to his back landed in front of him. "Ah look men we have our first victim. Who are you human? Let your name be recorded as the first death on this planet."'

"My name is not important. The fact that I am here to finish what Goku started is," Trunks said simply.

"Goku? You know that dirty Saiyan monkey?"

I haven't met him, but I will as soon as he lands. Sadly you won't be here to see him. But I will tell him you dropped by for a visit."

Trunks speech caused the cyborg Frieza to start laughing. "Father even the humans on this backwards planet have heard of me. I am so honored."

"Frieza would you hurry up and stop messing around. We don't have all day," King Cold scolded him.

"Father please, I just want to have a little fun. After all you taught me that revenge is best handed out in person." Frieza spoke more respectfully to King Cold then he spoke to anyone else ever. Because only King Cold had a greater power then he did. Frieza turned to his men. "Kill him, he isn't worth my time."

One of the soldiers stepped forward tapping his scouter. "Power level of 5? Well, too bad human." He raised his energy gun, dialing the needed power. "Say good night." He pressed the button and his energy gun fired at Trunks.

Trunks raised a hand and flicked the energy blast back with his finger, sending the solider stumbling back as a hole appeared in his arm. Raising his hand again he fired six rapid energy blasts killing the squad of soldiers. "Now that the fodder is out of the way, shall we continue our chat?"

Frieza smiled at Trunks. "Well, it seems that you have a bit of a fight in you after all. Hopefully you can amuse me until Goku gets here, although I suppose there is not much hope of that."

"Goku lands in three hours, but you won't be here to see him. You have five minutes, that is how long this battle is going to take. "

Frieza clinched his fists together. "Really you are so dramatic, making bold claims that you can't back up. It is always the same with you lot, your always going to kill me at the start, then by the end you are begging for your life."

Trunks smirked, brushing away the hair in front of his eyes. "Tell me something Frieza. Are you ready to fight a real Super Saiyan? And I am not talking about Goku."

"Am I am ready to...what?" The cyborg started to laugh again, turning to glance back at his father. "This one has quite the sense of humor. Maybe I should let him live, but cage him so he can tell jokes at my court. What do you think father?"

"I have heard better. Could you please just kill him so that we can get on with the rest of your revenge," King Cold answered. Part of him wished that this warrior was he claimed, because he very much wanted to see the Super Saiyan of legend. But everyone knew that Saiyans had black hair, and this warrior had purple hair. King Cold's scouter started to beep rapidly and he turned his full attention back to the warrior in question.

Rocks started to rise in the air as a gold aura appeared around Trunks. The ground shook as Trunks purple hair stood up before shifting to gold. He yelled for a few moments as his power kept climbing before leveling off. The scouters of Frieza and King Cold shattered from the power overload.

Frieza watched in horror as the youth transformed in front of him. Not another one! It just wasn't fair. His mind flashed back to Namek, the boy had the eyes, they were exactly the same. He clenched his fists so tightly that purple blood started to run between them. Thrusting his left hand out he shot a blast of yellow energy at Trunks. "Die monkey!" One of the things that his cyborg form did was reduce the time it took for him to gather energy by a large amount.

Trunks put out hand and the energy deflected off his palm. "That was strike one. Care to try again?," he offered Frieza.

Frieza's mind was racing as Trunks spoke. _So he deflected one energy blast .I was even with Goku, I should have beaten him if not for my body being injured before our final fight. Now my body is rebuilt better then ever, and this Saiyan child can't be stronger then Goku, that isn't possible. And he is foolish enough to give me a second chance, he is going to regret that. _Frieza raised a hand into the air as a white aura flared up around him. A black ball of energy formed above his hand as he rose into the air. "Foolish Saiyan this attack is what blew up Namek and countless other planets. You can't dodge or your planet will be blown up. Myself and my father can survive in space without oxygen, but you can't even should you you live through the planet exploding around you. "Say your goodbyes Saiyan!," Frieza said as he threw the Death Ball at Trunks.

Future Gohan watched from the sideline cursing silently to himself. He knew that he should have handled this fight. Trunks was playing around too much, and now it looked like he was going to have to step in. He had to bring Trunks back home safely, or Bulma would never forgive him. Gohan thought back to when Trunks became worthy of fighting at his side.

* * *

_**Four Years Ago, Future Timeline**_

**It was years since the Androids set up this terrible game of slaughtering people by the millions and playing cat and mouse against us. The number of warriors left on this planet was two: Trunks and I. I had been a Super Saiyan ever since I saw the original group of warriors killed by those evil Android twins except for my father. He died 6 months earlier due to a heart virus. We trained daily to increase our chances against the murderous Androids, but Trunks had yet to reach Super Saiyan state. I was hard pressed to keep him out of the battle as much as possible.**

**He was Bulma's only son, and it was my responsibility to make sure he comes back home well and alive. Unlike them, I had no family left. My mother was driven to grief over the death of my father, and her vision for me was basically in shatters. I was still her son, but I was becoming less of the son she knew or wanted. I didn't realized how much work she did around the house and cooking until I finally noticed the lack of energy she put in. Without her usual demur over the housework, it took a toll on her body. I tried to visit her, but it was becoming difficult these days.**

**I do not remember exactly what we were doing when the Androids decided to wreck the Super World, but we dropped whatever we were doing like usual and flew out to stop them. I reminded Trunks of our usual plan, I go out and fight them while Trunks stay behind and watch. He would jump in when I become too injured or when I give him the signal which was nearly never. I knew Trunks hated it with passion, but he couldn't argue since he has yet reached Super Saiyan to fight alongside me.**

**As we flew nearer to Super World, we saw a stampede of people rushing out of the amusement park and an area of destroyed vegetation, vehicle, and asphalt where it used to be a parking lot. The rest was the military remains. It wasn't hard to find out that the Androids were having fun with the rides by themselves. They were just boarding the Grand Carousal as we landed. **

"**Aw com'on, you guys again?" 17 complained. "Do you have to show up every single time we go anywhere?" **

"**And we're in such a good mood too," 18 agreed. "17, get rid of them, quickly."**

"**Sure, sis, don't want to interrupt ****_your_**** fun."**

"**It's not my fault you take ****_forever_**** with yours." **

"**Whatever." 17 walked up to me as I took my stance.**

"**Trunks, stay back," I told him.**

"**Right," he said, his tone indicating he prefered to stay. He took some steps back and a ways off from my position.**

**17 wasted no time in rushing at me ready to kick my legs from under me. I responded by jumping over his low flying body. He stopped himself before hitting a nearby park attraction and faced me just as I turned midway of my jump. He already had a ki ball ready and flung it at me. The ki ball hit my afterimage then the building behind it. I reappeared in front of my vanished afterimage and raised myself to Super Saiyan state. 17 came flying at me attempting to strike me down as I managed to block or dodge most of it. When I went to attack, he got past my defenses and sent me flying to a support beam.**

**I lost my guard and my enemy's position when I slammed into it. I felt a fist punching my left cheek forcing me flying off the support beam and an elbow to my back a few meters away. I ended up crashing through the roof of an Arcade building. I had to create some distance and distract him so I could land a hit. I flew through a wall, shattering it as I looked around for 17. He was above me sending out another ki ball. I continued my planned destination as I turned my body to face him. The ki hit the ground causing a cloud of dust.**

**I had already pinpointed 17 before the cloud of dust obscured my vision and threw a ki ball. The ki pushed away the dust giving me clear sight of my opponent. It also meant he could see me. I didn't need to worry about that since he was surprised to see the ki ball I made flung at him and barely moved to the side to avoid it. I took the opening presented to me and flew up to give him a taste of my own attack. The first two connected and managed to throw him a few feet.**

**I continued my flurry of punches and kicks as 17 regained himself. It wasn't long until we were locked in furious combat as we traded blows and blocks as we attempted to knock the other off. This round was won by me since I brought my leg upwards and kicked 17 away. I followed the flying body, intended to finish him off when 18 suddenly reappeared in front of me. I couldn't stop myself in time as her fist punched me sideways. I crashed into a thick glass window. It shattered as I fell outside with shards of glass raining on me. I was grateful to have Saiyan skin to protect me from a potential glass cut.**

"**Don't interfere!" I heard 17 yelled at 18.**

"**Chill, 17," 18 told him. "The ride was over, and you two will soon make a mess of this place. Let's take care of him, so we can get some more fun."**

**It was a struggle to get up. As I forced myself up to my knee then a standing position, I could see from the top part of my vision the twins flying at me. I could barely hold out against one, but both? It would be the end of me. This was about the time Trunks decide to jump in and help, but I don't see him. I did sense him nearby, so he must be watching. Then, the onslaught from the twins assaulted my already bruised body.**

**I tried to catch myself every time my legs were swept out from under me or knocked around, but the other was always there to screw up my balance. It was hard keeping track of two fast Androids using only my sights since I could not sense them at all. I kept my eyes open as long as I can and caught 18 creating a ki ball and blasting it at my face. My vision blurred from the intense light as I felt more ki blasts hit me. Just as my vision returned, I was knocked forward on the glass shard ground. I tried to get up, but a knee pressed on my back preventing me from going further.**

"**Heh, well this isn't much fun," I heard 17 say from above me. "I wonder where the other guy was."**

"**Who knows? Maybe he high-tailed out of here when he saw we're too much for his friend?" 18 responded from a ways back. I can't see her since she's out of my vision range.**

"**That's no fun. Then we have to chase him."**

"**Never mind him, I'll find him later. What are you going to do with this one?"**

"**Him? Like this." I felt his hands grab my right arm and twist it unnaturally up. "I want you to scream as I slowly break your arm off." I felt panic rise in me as I tried to get a grip with myself. There has to be a way to get out of my current predicament. **

"**Gohan!" I heard Trunks yelled as he tried to blast off 17. I saw 18 get in front of the blast and knocked it away.**

"**Oh, there you are. I thought you decided to run," 18 mocked Trunks.**

"**Mock me all you want Android, but when I'm through with you, you'll wish that you had never suffered my wrath!" Trunks shouted at her. Then they were gone.**

**A sharp pain reminded me of what's going to happen. I braced myself mentally for the torture 17 would place on my arm and probably the rest of me. I managed not to scream as 17 slowly forced my arm at an unnatural angle until a snap I heard and felt happened. The pain was unimaginable as the held back tears flowed down, and my scream tore out of my mouth. I barely felt him shift as he put himself a better position to pull my arm out of its socket. Unconsciousness threatened to overwhelm me.**

**I was snapped back to the present when I heard a high pitch wail. I could only think of Trunks and searched out his familiar ki. I was confused when I felt his power rose higher than I remembered. Then, 17 dropped my injured arm as he shouted for his sister. The arm hit the ground, sending another jolt of pain. Ignoring the useless arm, I struggled to at least sit up. I managed to raise my head and saw a spectacular sight. Trunks had golden hair handling the clearly shocked 18 with ease.**

**At least I hope so. I was having difficulty seeing properly. It wasn't till later that I found out I somehow fell asleep or something. My eyes snapped open when I realized that and saw a bruised but alive Trunks sitting beside me, quietly waiting. "Wha-?" I tried to asked, but my mind was too jumbled to form a sentence. It was then I realized that my arm was healed and my full strength was back. "How-? Senzu bean."**

"**Yes. I searched on you for one while you were unconscious and found one," Trunks confirmed.**

"**Thanks, Trunks. What about you? And the Androids? What happened?"**

"**I'm well. The Androids thought two Super Saiyans would provide more fun and left. I would have gone after them if I didn't have you to worry about."**

"**T-two? You turned Super Saiyan?"**

"**Yes. 18 was about to blast me to pieces when I heard your scream. I never heard you make that scream and I don't want you to make that again! I could feel my anger at them, my inevitable uselessness to you, and not making a difference just … snapped something inside of me. It was nice for a change to see her with a horrified look on her face. I could have ended her when 17 join in. After a few blows, they decided to ceasefire for now and have you healed up for the next match."**

"**I see."**

**After a moment of silence, I deemed time for us to head back to Capsule Corp before the last rays of sun disappeared. Later, we had several more skirmishes against them before our trip to the past.**

* * *

Future Gohan transformed with a thought and flew towards the battle, moving with super speed.

* * *

Up in space Goku was keeping track of the battle with his ki senses, waiting to see if he needed to intervene. He felt a massive spike in Frieza's power, and touched two fingers to his forehead, locking in on the ki of the unknown warrior. His focus wavered when he felt another massive ki spike._ Gohan? That was impossible, he couldn't have progressed that much. It didn't quite feel like his Gohan either. The ki felt darker, even though it was clearly Gohan. What's going on down there?_ Goku considered it for a few moments, before deciding to sit tight for now. This new power was more then enough to handle Frieza, and if it was Gohan, Goku didn't want to distract him by appearing right near him in the middle of his power climbing.

* * *

Piccolo almost flipped out when he felt the source of the new power on the battlefield. First there was this unknown warrior, then Frieza created a planet killing blast. Then a new warrior stepped in, and that warrior was Gohan some how. Piccolo checked to make sure that Gohan was still sitting next to him. So how it is that Gohan's ki was in two places at once? Whoever this other Gohan was, and Piccolo had no doubts that it was indeed Gohan, he radiated more power then Piccolo had ever felt in once place in his entire life. His power was much greater then the other unknown warrior, the one already fighting Frieza.

* * *

Trunks caught the Death Ball between his hands not moving an inch from the impact. "Is that really your most powerful attack?" He shook his head out of pity. "You know for all the stuff I heard about how horrible you were, I have to say that you haven't lived up to it. I expected to have to break a sweat at least before I killed you." Moving his hands together Trunks crushed the Death Ball between them.

He looked to the left, feeling Future Gohan approach rapidly. He spoke before Future Gohan could. "I know Gohan, I shouldn't be playing around with him. My five minutes aren't up yet though. That is how long you said your dad took to beat both of them."

Super Saiyan Future Gohan landed nearby, keeping an eye on Frieza and King Cold. "I told you don't play around in case King Cold is capable of transforming. I am not sure how powerful that would make him."

Trunks shrugged. "I would have killed him before he could transform, if I saw that he was trying to. It's not like I am using my full power right now."

Frieza looked on in horror, first at the ease at which Trunks disposed of his Death Ball, and then at yet another Super Saiyan showing up. At first Frieza thought it was Goku, but the unknown warrior was calling him Gohan. Seeing them talking to each other, and not paying attention to him he charged up a pair of Death Balls and threw them at the Saiyans.

Future Gohan sensed the balls of energy coming at him and Trunks and spun to face them. Raising one hand he shot a large energy wave at the incoming Death Balls, consuming them and pushing the entire combined wave of energy back at Frieza, forcing him to dodge out of the way as the energy wave went out into space. "It is rude to interrupt when you see people talking. Didn't you learn any manners as a child?," Gohan scolded him.

King Cold stood relaxed on the sidelines watching the interaction between his son and the Saiyans. "You disappoint me Frieza. I wouldn't have expected you to be pushed around by a group of monkeys. Back when I was running the PTO out in the open, I made sure my inferiors knew their place. Now I suggest that you finish this before I am forced to step in and handle it myself." King Cold didn't like to be disappointed, and those that did suffered.

Frieza blanched at the clear threat in his fathers voice. "Yes father, I will fight seriously now." With that the ground started to shake as Frieza brought out his full power. "Now Saiyan fools, tremble before my full power." He vanished appearing next to Trunks swinging for his head, only to have it easily blocked. No matter how much he attacked he couldn't land a single solid hit on Trunks.

While Trunks was testing out the extent of Frieza's full power, Future Gohan went after King Cold. Not wasting any time tossing insults around, he flew forward and punched King Cold right in the face, sending him flying into a near by cliff. A follow up kick knocked King Cold through said cliff, and so Gohan kept the assault up, not giving King Cold a chance to consider transforming, if he even could. It was clear pretty quickly that despite King Cold's best efforts that he was no match for Gohan.

"You and your friend have a lot of power," King Cold said as he stood clutching his side from Gohan's latest blows. King Cold hadn't gotten a beating like this in a very long time, back when his father was the ruler, and he was plotting to overthrow him. He was never given the chance because his father died of natural causes before they could have their final fight. "Both of you, if you worked for me...no worked alongside me, could have whatever you wanted. Women, armies, fleets, planets. Entire systems even. You could replace my son, he has grown too weak to keep his spot, because it looks like your friend there is about to kill him."

Future Gohan looked at King Cold with fury in his eyes. To cast away his own son, just because he wasn't strong enough. He was just like the Androids, only caring about himself, not caring who got hurt in the process of getting what he wanted. "I think not," he said in a clipped tone, fury radiating from his words. He charged up an attack in one hand before thrusting his hand forward at King Cold. "I call this my God Breaker attack. You will be the first to ever experience it." A yellow ball of energy shot out of Gohan's hand catching King Cold right in the chest and going right through his armor and out his back.

King Cold stumbled a few steps before falling over. "Why? I don't understand...I offered you power over everything," he asked as he coughed up purple blood.

Mirai Gohan walked forward slowly. "Because people like you are monsters, and you create and enable monsters by your actions. I watched my world descend into darkness. I won't let this world do the same." Gohan started to charge up the attack that made his father famous. What better way to end the threat of Freiza's family once and for all then using the Kamehameha wave. He took his time, making sure to gather enough power before firing the blue energy wave at King Cold, reducing him to ashes.

Future Gohan took a deep breath dispelling his anger before powering down. He turned back to watch Trunks cutting Frieza into tiny pieces with his sword, before blasting them into dust. That took care of the first threat, but a much bigger threat still loomed. Turning towards the cliff where the other Z-Fighters of this timeline were hiding, he spoke. "All of you can come out now, the threat is over, and we won't hurt you. My...Goku will be landing soon. If you follow us, we will show you exactly well he will land."

Piccolo was the first one to appear, kid Gohan trailing behind him. "Stay back Gohan, we don't know what these two are up to. Get ready to run if I give the word," Piccolo ordered him. He wasn't about to expose Gohan to danger in case he was wrong about who was standing in front of him.

"But Mr. Piccolo, that fighter his energy feels like mine, and he is wearing my dads uniform. He has to be an older version of me. Physics says that time travel is possible, because..." at a strong look from Piccolo, Gohan shut up and stood back.

Trunks landed in time to hear kid Gohan's comments. "He is right you know, we are from the future. In fact...," Trunks caught a glare from Mirai Gohan and went silent himself.

"What I want to know is how it is that you are Super Saiyans? The only Saiyans left are myself, Kakarot, and his brat," Vegeta said glaring at both of the future warriors.

"I would prefer to only have to explain this once," Mirai answered. "If you would please follow us to where Goku is going to land, I will explain everything then." This was already getting more out of control then Mirai Gohan had wanted. Their first plan was totally out of the window now, thanks to Trunks playing around with the ice demons.

"At least tell us who you are," Krillin said.

"You can call me Mirai, and he is Trunks", Mirai Gohan responded. "Now please follow me this way."

"We are headed over there, you can follow or not as you choose," Trunks added. Both of future warriors took off, heading for the area that Goku would land in.

Kid Gohan took off after them, despite the protests of the others. "I feel like I can trust them, besides I want to be there when my dad lands."

* * *

_3 hours later _

"There he is Mr. Piccolo," kid Gohan said pointing up in the sky. "They were right, daddy is home." Gohan took off into the air following the decent of the Saiyan Attack Pod. He got there just as Goku climbed out of the crater the pod left.

"Hi Gohan, hi everyone. How did you know I was going to land here?" Goku opened his arms, catching Gohan as the boy jumped into them.

"I have missed you daddy," the half Saiyan child said.

"I missed you too." Goku started to say more before he glanced over at Mirai Gohan and Trunks. He placed Gohan back down on the ground, focusing his attention on the two warriors that had saved his friends. So his theory had been right about the source of the power that had felt like Gohan, but not exactly Gohan. Somehow there was another version of Gohan here. An older darker version.

Mirai Gohan had thought about this moment for a long time. The moment when he would see his father again. He blinked first under his father's intense stare, wondering why his father was looking at him so strangely. He glanced at his young counterpart and smiled back at the smile which was plastered on his face. He knew exactly who he was looking at for sure. Mirai resolved to make a few minutes to talk to him before they left. It would change the future in unknown ways, but that was why they were here wasn't it?

Trunks glanced back and forth between his mentor and Goku. He had wanted to meet Goku for as long as they had been planning this trip, hearing so much about him from Future Gohan. Did Goku measure up to the tales told about him? Was he really the warrior that would tip the balance for this timeline? Trunks had to know for sure. With that in mind he walked over to stand in front of Goku, pulling his sword off his back. He got into a combat stance and smiled as Goku matched it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Future Gohan trying to wave him off, but he payed him no mind. "So Goku you are also a super Saiyan correct? Can you show me please?"

Goku reacted quickly without any thought when Trunks pulled his sword out, pushing Gohan behind him and getting into his battle stance. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Piccolo grabbing Gohan and dragging him away. Goku hadn't suspected a trap, but people had tried to kill him for no reason before. He relaxed slightly when Trunks asked him about also being super Saiyan and if he could show him. "Sure." Clinching his firsts together slightly, he let out a yell transforming in a flash that sent everyone but Trunks and Future Gohan stumbling back a few steps. "Now what?"

"Now we will all three be super Saiyans," Trunks explained. He transformed, putting his sword away as he did. The reason he had taken it out in the first place was to test Goku, and see through his actions if he was both the warrior and the person that his stories claimed to be. Trunks was satisfied that he was indeed who Gohan had described.

Future Gohan transformed, catching on to what Trunks was doing. Through his actions he was dispelling any doubts the others might have had about who they were, and what they were capable of. This would make their story much more believable. Time travel sounded more palusable then undiscovered super Saiyans, especially with his younger counterpart standing there, and people able to see how much they looked like mirror images of each other. He spoke for the first time since Goku landed. "I can't help but feeling if the three of us were facing the Androids, we could have defeated them."

Goku looked puzzled at the comments of the older warrior. "Androids? You came here for help? Well I guess I owe you for saving my family and friends from Frieza."

Future Gohan shook his head. "We should start from the beginning so that everything is understood. Some...no most of what we have to say will sound strange and hard to believe, but I urge you to consider the facts before deciding." He powered down and Trunks followed suit.

Goku also dropped out of his super Saiyan form. "Alright we are listening."

Future Gohan took a deep breath as everyone gathered around. "Alright, first things first. Our names." He pointed at Trunks. "His name is really Trunks, but when I said to call me Mirai, I was only being half truthful."

"Mirai means the future right?," Kid Gohan questioned.

"Correct" his counterpart told him. "And that part is true enough. We are both from the future."

Vegeta scoffed at his statement. "Please you expect us to believe that? I want to know how you acquired our powers, your clearly not Saiyans. No Saiyan has purple hair."

"Are you blind as well as stupid Vegeta?" Piccolo questioned him. "That is Gohan you are talking to. An older version of Gohan, but otherwise exactly the same as our Gohan. I wasn't totally sure at first, but the way he carries himself, the way he fights, and the way he talks has confirmed it for it me."

Mirai Gohan nodded. "Right as usual Piccolo. I am your Gohan, but from a future timeline. My world has been wrecked by two monsters, and I took Trunks, and came back in time in hopes of sparing the past from suffering the same fate."

"The Androids you mentioned earlier?," Goku asked, a serious look on his face now that the fate of world was being talked about.

"Correct dad. Three years from now, on May 12th 767, on an island 9 miles southwest of South City, two horrible monsters will appear. Their power is beyond compare. They start attacking Amenbo Island and that is what draws Earth's Special Forces to fight them."

Trunks took up the thread of the tale from that point. "Everyone puts up a good fight, but you all fall, one by one. Tien, Krillin, Piccolo, Yamcha, even Vegeta falls. With Piccolo's death goes the dragonballs and the hope of anyone being brought back. The only one who gets away is Gohan."

Mirai Gohan held up a hand to forestall Goku's question. "I know what you want to ask dad, what about you. You die six month earlier, of a heart virus that at first strikes only super Saiyans. Later it spreads to the rest of the world, but by that point the Androids have arrived and the world has bigger problems."

Goku clinched his fists together, an angry expression on his face. "Damn it! I want my shot at them, but you tell me I am going to die before I even get my chance. I am sure I can make a difference."

A smile broke out on Mirai Gohan's face. "You have no idea how long I have waited to hear you utter those words dad. As it happens while there was no cure when the virus first appeared, we developed the cure later on. We have some with us to give to you. Take it right away, and you will be just fine."

"Just remember to take it as soon as you get home tonight. It is grape flavored, we heard that is your favorite." Trunks put in as he pulled the cure out of his jacket and tossed it to Goku. "Transforming into a super Saiyan today likely triggered the virus, but what spread it through your system was fighting. It is in its early stages right now. You won't notice shortness of breath or any other signs for some time. If you take it before those signs start appearing, the cure will annihilate the virus before it can started."

"So Gohan is Kakarot's brat, but who is your father Trunks?," Vegeta questioned. Even as he asked the question the answer hit him. "The way you fight, the pride you show, the style. Your my kid aren't you?"

Trunks blushed and looked away. He had wanted to meet his father for a long time despite all of the bad things he had heard about him. Still at this point, no reason to hide the fact that he was Vegeta's son. "Yes, you are my father. I can't tell you who the mother is, otherwise it likely won't happen," he said to preempt his father's next question.

Vegeta didn't really care too much about that, he had only one burning question. Although part of him was proud of Trunks strength, he looked now to his own. "At this battle where I died, was I a super Saiyan boy?"

Trunks looked to Mirai Gohan, not really knowing the answer to that question.

"Yes you were a super Saiyan Vegeta. It took both of them to bring you down. Had I been stronger or had dad been alive, we might have won the day."

"I am the prince of all Saiyans, I require no such assistance," Vegeta stated in a cold tone. "Given time to train for them, I shall crush them both without any help from any of you."

"Father no!," Trunks pleaded. "Part of the reason we came back was to warn you. But the other part of the reason is we intend to fight alongside you to change the future of this timeline."

"I need no such help," Vegeta said in the same frosty tone as before. "True Saiyans fight alone. I will reclaim my birthright as the strongest warrior in the universe." With that Vegeta took off, leaving the battlefield.

Trunks started to follow him, but Goku's hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to see Goku shaking his head.

"Vegeta will come around. He has fought with us when required in the past. He will again," Goku explained.

"Getting back on topic, Bulma if you would step forward please," Future Gohan said, reaching into his jacket for a capsule.

Bulma nodded and stepped forward. "Yes Gohan?"

He handed over a capsule. "In this capsule is everything you will need should things follow the same dark path that our timeline followed. But you have to promise that you will not look at it unless we fall in battle to the Androids. Included in there are plans for the spaceship that we never got to build due to lack of resources. Furthermore it contains the blueprints for clean limitless energy, and step by step instructions on how to build the time machine we traveled in today. There are some other things loaded on the discs in there, including the cure for the heart virus that Goku has inside his body. The future you says that time is a very fragile thing, and the information inside that capsule should not be used unless you have no other options."

Bulma tucked the information safely away. "I promise she said."

"Are you going to stay with us future me?," Kid Gohan asked. "I bet mom would be thrilled to meet the future version of me."

Mirai Gohan shook his head sadly. "We have to get back to our timeline. The Androids are still rampaging unchecked there. And we have to let future Bulma know that the trip worked. But I want to talk to you for a few moments before we leave. In private please." He rose in the air mentioning for his younger counterpart to follow him.

They flew a safe distance away, landing out of earshot of everyone else.

"What did you want to talk to me about?," Gohan asked.

Mirai smiled, getting down on one knee so he was level with Gohan. "I wanted to tell you two things. First no matter what happens, don't lose who you are inside. Dark days are ahead of you, but you will overcome all of them if you stay true to who you are."

Gohan nodded, not sure exactly what that all meant, but repeating the words softly to himself so that he committed them to memory. "And the second thing?"

"Second is train hard, and learn everything your teachers show you. Trapped inside of you is a great hidden power. You might be the key to defeating the Androids. I was able to transform at a young age, so that I know that you can too." He stood up and placed his hand on Gohan's forehead, focusing on that day in his mind.

Gohan's eyes widened as the images flowed into his head. The deaths of his friends hit him hard, but no harder then Piccolo's. It was one thing to know that a version of Piccolo had died, it was another to experience it first hand. He sunk to his knees his left hand slamming into the ground as tears streamed down his face. "Piccolo..." he whispered to himself.

Mirai looked at him, no pity on his face or in his eyes. He had moved far beyond feelings like that. They only held you back from the truth about life. "Use the pain Gohan. Use those images when you train. When you are ready they can be your trigger, like watching it happened triggered my rage, unlocking my super Saiyan abilities."

Gohan nodded, focus clear on his face. He wasn't about to let that happen to his Piccolo. No matter what it took. "Whatever it takes," he muttered to himself.

Mirai overhead him however. "Exactly whatever it takes." He gave his younger counterpart a hug. "I have to go now, tell the others that if we are alive, we will come back to help you fight the Androids here."

* * *

_A/N: Dies Irae translates into "Day of Wrath". _

_Power Levels _

_Frieza Suppressed: 65,000,000_

_Frieza (Full Power): 160,000,000_

_King Cold Suppressed: 70,000,000_

_Trunks: 30,000,000_

_Trunks SSJ: 177,000,000_

_Goku: 23,000,000_

_Goku SSJ: 170,000,000_

_Mirai Gohan: 70,000,000_

_Mirai Gohan SSJ: 217,000,000_

_I attempt to keep power levels to a reasonable level, but I go based off what the Manga said as a starting point. (If you want the cliff notes version of this skip to the end of this wall of text). _

_I don't use the 50X for the SSJ form, that was never 100% confirmed and I think it provides far too big of a boost. Think about this for a second, when Piccolo fuses with Kami, hes stronger then the super saiyans because he is able to match Android 17 blow for blow, where before Android 17 was able to knock everyone out with a single blow. However by the time the Buu saga rolls around the saiyans are comfortable with fighting him in their base forms, meaning that they believed that they had surpassed him without their transformations. If we go with the idea of a 50X boost then that means that when transformed they are over 50 times stronger then he is which is a silly idea. My guess is that Piccolo is around Perfect Cell's suppressed strength at the start of the Buu saga, which if the 50X was correct would mean that the saiyans were over 50 times stronger then Perfect Cell just by transforming into their super saiyan forms. Seems silly when written like that right?_

_**It was just said that Goku's power was roughly 50 times greater as an SSJ then his base power because 3,000,000 (his base) + 147 million (what I believe the SSJ boost provides)=150,000,000 or 50 times greater then 3,000,000. That is how I got the number for what a super saiyan transformation provides. It was just simple math. **_

_A further example: Going by the 50X power system and giving Goku a power level of 20 million when he returns home and uses his finger against Trunks sword that would mean that Goku power level would be 1,000,000,000. That's right 1 billion. So that would mean that Goku improved by 850,000,000 while away from earth, including the time he spent learning IT. If he could do that how come he couldn't improve enough in the HTC training with another SSJ to defeat Cell? _

_I believe that every saiyan who transforms gets the same boost from the transformation on top of their base strength. I have been thinking about a power level system for a long time, and I always thought that the usual power level systems that are seen on many sites are hugely flawed, because they didn't account for limits, but the numbers didn't click in my head until I read the __Bringer Of Death__ fan fiction written by npberryhill and davidstarlingm. They created a power level system that I urge everyone to go check out, even if you don't agree with what they say. I don't use their model exactly, but reading what they wrote helped me greatly refine my system. _

_First, everyone of the same race has the same limits and possible power. That doesn't mean that they will all reach the same levels of power, just that in the right situation and given enough time, they could do so. _

_Limits are just that. Unless broken by something special (like tree of might fruit), they create a hard wall that fighters can't go past until they unlock another transformation. __The closer a fighter gets to that wall, the longer and more difficult it is to approach that wall. Once they get really close further training to increase raw power becomes very hard and thus pointless in the long run. Instead of increasing their power, they could instead perfect techniques or come up with new ones._

_We know that the limits have to exist, otherwise there is no reason for the higher forms. A prime example is when they are training in the RoST for Cell and Goku declines to go back inside for another day, saying that it wouldn't help them get any stronger. He's already running up against his limits as he and Gohan mastered SSJ1 and became Full Powered Super Saiyans. Gohan is slightly stronger then his dad at this point because he broke the SSJ2 barrier in the RoST for a brief second, but it was enough to allow his base to increase over his dad's. __And, this is what Vegeta failed to understand. Technically, he hit he limit as well but didn't want to believe it. He also didn't believe resting would help either. Until he learned to master the super saiyan form he couldn't get much stronger through pure training._

_For the super saiyans, they can master SSJ1 and SSJ2 forms. As they master each form, they can draw out more and more power from their transformations. I won't spoil how much SSJ power each form gives when fully mastered as that will be addressed when I reach that point in my story. To reach SSJ3 requires a special situation (like being dead already or fusion), but breaking through to each form removes the limits from training again and makes it a lot more effective. All of this will be explained in much more detail when it comes up in the story. _

_**Most of the training is done in the base, and the bases can be trained up to 1/2 of the SSJ form's power (73.5 million). **_

_As you can see Future Gohan is close to being maxed out at this point. _

_Note that the ASSJ and USSJ forms work as power ups within the SSJ1 form, this will be covered in more detail when the time rolls around. _

* * *

**_Cliff Notes Version_**

_SSJ + 147,000,000_

_73,500,000 max base _

_220,500,000 max power_

_Full boost is granted right away upon transforming into a super saiyan for the first time._

_Max base is ½ of the form's boost. _

_Min power 2,000,000 required to transform._

_Can't be stacked with the Kaio-ken._


	2. Chapter 2-Mirror Image

**Chapter 2: Chapter 2-Mirror Image**

* * *

DI

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 2- Mirror Image**

_A/N: Italics = thoughts_

_Chapter Update 3-5-2015: I took the Chi-Chi and Bulma scene from chapter five and put it here as the ending scene. I did this for story flow reasons. Now it makes sense within the timeline, and still sticks close to canon. _

* * *

**"You got to reach deep, dig down, give it all you got, than give even more."**

* * *

_The Next Day. Goku's House._

"I won't study! I am going to go train with dad and Mr. Piccolo," Gohan yelled at his mother. The problems had begun the night before, when Gohan had tried to sleep after the events of the day. His sleep was tormented with the nightmares of watching the Androids slaughter his friends, in the future. Slaughter Piccolo. That was the image Gohan couldn't get out of his head. When he woke up this morning his mom expected him to go right back to studying after breakfast. But what did studying matter if their world was going to be turned into a hellhole in three years? Along with the images, Gohan had received some of the feelings that went along with them. Rage of course, but his future counterpart also felt a great deal of guilt, for not being strong enough to stop the Androids. It was that guilt that made him fight the Androids as often as possible, even though it often seemed hopeless.

Chi-Chi was taken aback by Gohan's angry and violent reaction. _Where was the sweet little boy she remembered from yesterday? She have no idea what had brought about this temper tantrum he was currently having, but she would not stand for such nonsense._ "Gohan you are going to study. We can do this easy way or the hard way, but you are going to study."

It was like Gohan hardly heard her, as he was lost deep within himself. "I can't mom, I am sorry. They need me to be strong. I have to be strong to save them all."

After hearing Gohan, Chi-Chi softened her tone a bit. _She had heard the full story from Goku regarding to another version of Gohan had arrived to warn them about evil Androids appearing in three they had also said that Goku had died in that world before he could fight the Androids. Surely he would make the difference._ "Gohan, I know you are worried about what happened in the other timeline, but you don't have to worry. Your daddy is going to be fine, and he will take care of everything." She put a smile on her face, although yesterday's events had rattled her some as well. Still, she had to keep positive for Gohan. "How about you study for a bit, and I will make you your favorite cookies. You can take a break in a couple of hours."

Whatever internal struggle Gohan had had seemingly resolved itself. Calmly, Gohan looked at his mother in the eye."I am going to train. You can punish me later, but I am going to train."

Chi-Chi stomped her foot on the ground. This was just not acceptable. "You listen to me Son Gohan, you will not step foot outside this house until I say that you can. Now you will go up to your room and start to study, and we will forget that this conversation ever happened." By the time she finished, she was speaking to an empty room. Gohan had left. She ran to the door, watching him fly away. "Damn it Gohan you get your butt back here right now!" she yelled after him. _What the hell was going on with him? She was going to have a talk with both him and his father when they got back._

* * *

_Three Months Later. Wastelands_

Piccolo punched Gohan in the face sending him skidding across the ground. The young half Saiyan dug his feet into the ground halting his skid, before launching himself back at Piccolo.

Gohan's progress in the past three months had shocked everybody. He was focused, and driven beyond belief. He took instructions like never before, applying them rapidly. Already he had drawn almost level in power with Piccolo. Piccolo blocked his punches and kicks, but only just. If it wasn't for his greater combat experience, Piccolo knew that he would be in serious danger of losing this fight.

Shifting stances to his father's turtle form, Gohan surprised Piccolo by sweeping his feet out from under him. As his mentor got back to his feet Gohan hit him with a half charged Kamehameha Wave. Not stopping to see the results of the energy attack Gohan pressed his advantage following up with several blows that sent Piccolo staggering away. He was winning exchanges more and more often as they trained. When they fought together they were enough to overwhelm Goku's base form and force him to transform.

Piccolo raised his hand signaling a halt to the training.

Gohan looked at him in confusion. _They often trained much harder and much longer than this. Why were they stopping early?_

"Gohan, we need to talk." This wasn't easy for Piccolo since he wasn't the big talking type of person. But at the same time he had noticed the growing darkness in Gohan. Combined with Goku's reports about growing trouble at home, something was clearly up with Gohan. It had been decided that maybe he would confide in Piccolo. Now that Piccolo thought about in the context of everything that had happened these past months, Gohan was becoming more like his future counterpart then the happy kid he had been. '

Gohan relaxed his stance and sat down on a nearby rock. "Talk about what Mr. Piccolo?"

"Why you are so angry all the time? You have no reason to be that angry. Your dad is going to just be fine. He is not going to die from a heart virus."

Gohan looked down at the ground at the scolding of Piccolo. "It's not him," he mumbled.

To Piccolo's ears the mumble sounded like clearly spoken speech. "If it isn't your about your dad then what it is? You train like the Androids are going to show up tomorrow and not in three years."

Gohan shook his head. "I can't, I won't," he said in a low pained voice.

"You can't and won't what?" Piccolo prompted.

A pained expression crossed the child's face. "I won't fail you again."

Piccolo was confused for a few seconds before it all clicked in his head. "Gohan, you haven't failed me," he said softening his tone. "What happened in the future won't happen here. Things are already different." He held a hand ticking off the points on his fingers. "First and foremost your dad is going to live to confront the Androids. Second we are training every day to fight them. Your dad is going to teach everyone the Kaio-ken, including you. We need all hands on deck to fight the Androids, if two Super Saiyans aren't enough to beat them, then we need everyone to bring something to the fight." That was one of the longest speeches Piccolo had given in a long time and he watched Gohan carefully.

The speech didn't do anything to calm Gohan down; if anything it made him angrier. "No more talking, I want to train," he said standing up.

" No, not until you tell me what is really..." Piccolo cut off as he saw Gohan rushing at him to attack him. The boy's power was spiking widely, quickly forcing Piccolo to go on the defensive. "Gohan calm down" he yelled as he protected himself as best as he could, while knowing that it wasn't going to be enough. As his defenses were broken through several blows were rained down on his face and body. He allowed a blow to knock him away, giving himself time to regroup, and Gohan time to see what he had done.

Gohan fell to his knees as his rage burned out and he saw what he had just done. Tears leaked down his face as he apologized. "Sorry Mr. Piccolo … I just get so angry."

Piccolo sighed. Why had he allowed himself to be talked into being the one the confront Gohan? "What about me that makes you angry Gohan? Is it because a future version of myself dies? Gohan this isn't going to happen. We will be ready for them."

Gohan looked down at the ground. "I can't get the images out of my head," he mumbled.

The mumbling was as loud as clearly spoken words to Piccolo's ears. What images were Gohan talking about? Was he seeing Piccolo's broken body, because of what his future counterpart said? Piccolo walked slowly over to Gohan putting his hand on his head. "Let me see the images Gohan."

Gohan nodded focusing on them again.

A jolt ran through Piccolo's body as the images flew into his head. With them came the thoughts and feelings of the older Gohan, along with his Gohan's views and guilt about a failure that hadn't even happened yet. _Suddenly, it all made sense to Piccolo. When the two Gohan's had gone off to talk the older one must have transferred the images of that battle to his younger self, using a trick that had to be taught to him by Piccolo. A trick that he would teach to his Gohan at some point. He had already been planning the proper way to do it, before the future warriors showed up._

At first Piccolo started to tell Gohan that he was sorry, but just before he spoke he changed his mind. "We can use this, Gohan. We can teach you."

Gohan looked confused. _This wasn't how he expected Piccolo to react to seeing those images. Part of him had expected Piccolo to be mad, to blame Gohan for his death. _The boy wiped his tears away, reminding himself to focus. "Use them how Mr. Piccolo?"

"Teach you to become a Super Saiyan. You did it in the future at a young age. You will do it here at an even younger age." Seeing Gohan's puzzled look, Piccolo explained. "From what your father said, becoming a Super Saiyan requires a rage trigger. The images from your older counterpart confirm this. Krillin's death was the trigger for your father, for the future you, my death was that rage trigger. But you don't need me to die in order to transform."

Understanding dawned on Gohan's face. "I already watched you die once, even if it wasn't me that was there, it still feels like I lost you once." He paused in his thinking. "So if I have my trigger, then why can't I transform right now from just thinking about it?"

Piccolo frowned. "I am not totally sure about this, but I don't think you are strong enough. I don't think your body is ready to handle the stress of transforming, so that is why you currently can't transform."

Gohan considered Piccolo's words a determined expression on his face. "Then I will keep training till I can transform, then I will keep training until I can beat both Androids on my own, and get these images out of my head by killing both of them." He sounded a lot like his older counterpart in this moment.

Piccolo backed up a bit, getting back into his stance. "Well then shall we continue?"

* * *

_Six Months Later: Outside the Son Household._

Goku held up his hand to stop Gohan from going on. "You won't achieve the super Saiyan form just by raising your power level Gohan. Getting stronger is part of it, but you have to combine it with the rage trigger" he explained. "Honestly in a normal situation, I would say that you would be unable to transform until the right trigger happened, but you have that trigger in your mind already Gohan, you just have to keep training hard and you will reach the point that you can combine your power with that trigger to transform."

Gohan powered down at his father's signal panting as he did. "Right, daddy."

"You have gotten so strong so quickly Gohan." Goku went on. "I am very proud of you. Now, I have to go teach everyone how to use the Kaio-ken... but I don't want you to come along," he added to forestall Gohan.

Gohan stopped looking at his father with a puzzled expression. "Why not, daddy? Shouldn't I learn the Kaio-ken, I am strong enough!" Gohan knew that that Kaio-ken took a toll on the user's body, but his father had trained to overcome that, and so could he.

"It isn't about how strong you are Gohan. You won't be learning the Kaio-ken for one reason. You won't need it or use it, because you are going to be a super Saiyan just like your daddy is."

* * *

"While the Kaio-ken is easy to learn, and grants the user great power, it suffers from some drawbacks, mainly the toll that it takes on your body." Goku explained to the assembled Z-Warriors. Only Gohan and Vegeta were not among them. "The more powerful you are, and the higher you take the Kaio-ken, the greater the toll that it takes on your body. Training can offset some of this, but the price remains. Push too far too fast or for too long and you will suffer the price. Also limits appear to exist for how high it can be pushed. It doesn't seem to stack with my super Saiyan form either, I can't get it to active while I am transformed."

* * *

_One year later: Two years to the arrival of the Androids: Wastelands_

"Stop holding back Gohan," Piccolo scolded him as he blocked all of Gohan's punches and kicks, before countering with his eye beams. He didn't let up, following up the eye beams with an uppercut that sent Gohan staggering back, his chest still smoking from the eye beams. Piccolo kicked Gohan up into the air before appearing above him and slamming him down into the ground with a double handed smash, causing a dust storm to erupt from the kicked up dust and dirt. "I shouldn't be able to fight you without using the Kaio-ken that your father taught all of us."

As Gohan struggled back to his feet, Piccolo spoke again, shooting a glance over at Goku as he did. "You have all of the raw power that you need to transform, you are stronger than your father was when he transformed on Namek. "

Goku nodded at Piccolo's assessment. "It's true. You have grown amazingly powerful over this past year. Gohan you just have to believe in yourself." That Goku reflected had always been Gohan's biggest flaw. He always had the raw power, but he never believed he could bring it out and control it. Goku had hoped that seeing his future self which erase those doubts, but along with the images of Piccolo's death, had come guilt and doubt over if he could change the future.

Gohan opened his mouth to object, only to have Goku cut him off. "Gohan, everyone is counting on you. You hold the fate of the entire planet in your hands." Goku knew that was a lot of pressure to put on an 8 year old, but it was the truth. "I want you to focus on your anger, bring it all out, hold nothing back," Goku instructed his son.

Gohan nodded, looking within himself as instructed. His father had explained to him several times the process of transforming into a Super Saiyan. The key was anger, get angry enough, and don't fight how that makes you feel. Welcome it, drink it in, let the anger fuel your power. Do that and the transformation would come. Gohan focused on the images his older counterpart had imparted to him, viewing the day that Piccolo died as he had so many times before. His body shook as he watched the Androids batter his friends one by one, tossing them aside like so much trash. Even Vegeta as a Super Saiyan wasn't enough, at least not when they ganged up on him. Piccolo was the last to fall a fist through his chest, his last moments spent distracting the Androids so that he could escape. Gohan clinched his fists as the feelings of anger and guilt washed over him, as strong as ever. This time was different though, Gohan felt himself opening up, allowing the anger to fully wash over him. His aura flared into existence as he screamed out his frustration at his inability to save Piccolo. His white aura got brighter as he drew in more power. _No more! No more would he watch his friends die, while he stood by helpless. Those Androids were going to pay with their lives._

Piccolo watched with a grim expression on his face as Gohan rose up into the air, sparks starting to appear around his aura. As Gohan screamed out his rage his aura slowly shifted to yellow as his hair stood up on his head. _He was doing it!_ This was closer then Gohan had gotten before, he wasn't simply trying to reach the next level through powering up this time.

Goku stood by ready to step in if need be. He knew about the struggle to control yourself when you first transformed. Even now when he transformed he had to fight back the urge to smash everything in his path. A smile broke out across his face as he saw the transformation taking place in his son. _For Gohan to be able to transform at such a young age, was amazing._

* * *

Vegeta stopped doing push-ups in the gravity chamber as he sensed a massive spike in Gohan's power. _He had felt this just a year ago, with the older version of Gohan. No! It wasn't fair, now the brat was about to surpass him as well?_ For a moment his focus wavered and he felt the full pull of 300 times Earth's gravity pull him the rest of the way to the floor. Slamming his fists on the ground in frustration Vegeta screamed out as he felt Gohan ascend. _This wasn't going to be allowed to stand. He would have the power for himself, no matter what it took._

* * *

Tien and Krillin paused in their exchange of midair blows as they felt Gohan's power spike. At first Tien was ready to go check out what was going on, but Goku was in the area, and his energy was calm. He turned his attention back to Krillin. "Feel that? That is our chances improving again. Now we have to hold up our end of the bargain." Tien had heard stories of how the fight had gone down exactly, and he wasn't about go down as easily as he did in the future timeline.

Krillin nodded at Tien's words. "Goku must be so proud of Gohan right now. I know I am. He has grown a lot since Namek." Pausing he shifted gears. "Even using the Kaio-ken we are never going to match them in raw power." He didn't really have to say who they were.

"That may be true, but we will still be fighting when the Androids show up," Tien stated giving Krillin a hard look. He had never known Krillin to back down when the chips were on the table.

"Yes, so I had an idea about that. We can't match their power, but we can still do our part."

Tien landed on the ground, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am listening."

"We need to get everything possible out of our techniques," Krillin explained. "Also we and Yamcha as well should work on combining our attacks to make them more effective, along with creating new ones."

Tien considered, remembering that when he and Goku were more evenly matched, what gave him the edge was his vast range of techniques. "Maybe we can also do things with the Kaio-ken that Goku never thought of doing."

* * *

With a final scream Gohan floated in midair, transformed. All this power, and he wasn't even tired holding it. He couldn't wait to test his new abilities out and for that his eyes settled on his dad. He wasted no time charging his dad landing a few blows before Goku could also transform into a super Saiyan. He didn't usually have the upper hand in a spar with his father, but his new power was giving him the upper hand for the moment.

He started to follow up on the opening in his father's defenses when his ki senses alerted him to an attack coming from behind him. Swinging around he got an arm up to block Piccolo's kick at his face. Responding quicker than he ever had before he countered with a knee to Piccolo's gut sending the Namek staggering back a few steps. Gohan followed that attack up with a one handed energy blast to Piccolo's face.

Gohan felt a massive ki appear directly behind him as he was grabbed from behind and thrown roughly to the ground. Standing above him was his father in all his super Saiyan glory. Gohan raised one arm "Masenko!" he yelled, firing an energy blast directly at his dad.

Goku was able to get his arms up to block the Masenko, but only just barely. _Sloppy _he scolded himself._ I am not adjusting to the fact that his reflexes are at a Super Saiyan level. _Straining he redirected the Masenko, sending it to explode behind him.

* * *

_Several Weeks Later, Capsule Corp._

Vegeta was getting out of the shower after his latest training session, and getting ready to head back into the gravity chamber to train again when Bulma appeared in the bathroom doorway. She was wearing only a thin robe.

"Hi, I thought I could join you in the shower," she said with a purr in her voice as she started to undo her robe.

_He could always take a small break from training _Vegeta reflected. _Especially with the risk involved with what he had planned next._ Vegeta _didn't really care about Bulma, but the sex was nice to help bleed off some of his frustration, and the women was useful in how quickly she fixed the gravity chambers after he finished another intense training session._ Nodding at Bulma, Vegeta stepped back into the shower.

* * *

_Age 785 Future Timeline, Ginger Town._

A tail stabbed out from the shadows, impaling a fat well dressed man who was trying to flee the scene. While his matter got sucked into the tail, a hand raised up firing an energy blast that shook the town, causing several buildings to fold in on themselves. The end result was the way out of the town was blocked to traffic.

Several miles away Gohan stopped dead in midair. Trunks went a bit further before also stopping. "Gohan what was that? It can't be the Androids."

Gohan struggled for several moments to pull himself together. That energy, he hadn't felt it since he was a small child. Dad? But how? The dragonballs were gone. And if he was that strong who was he fighting. It had to be the Androids. Transforming into a Super Saiyan Gohan made a motion to Trunks. "Come on Trunks, something strange is going on in Ginger Town, and we need to check it out."

Seeing his mentor transform, Trunks also transformed. "Got it, Gohan." He hadn't failed to notice Gohan's face when they sensed the energy wave. It was a mix of horror and longing. "Gohan what's going on?"

"I know this sounds crazy Trunks but I sense my dad in the distance," Gohan explained as they flew in the direction of the massive ki.

"But hes dead, and we don't have the dragonballs," Trunks pointed out. Trunks had never seen the dragonballs, but he had heard stories from his mom and from Gohan. If it was Goku by some amazing chance then they might finally be able to beat those Androids. Trunks wanted to avenge his father and make Gohan proud of him.

"I know Trunks, and I don't want to go my hopes up but..." Gohan trailed off as he started to sense other ki signals. Vegeta! Piccolo! and others, including … Frieza? _What the fuck was going on there?_ Gohan picked up speed. _Was this some kind of joke? It better not be. _"Things keep getting weirder, now I sense your dad and Piccolo, along with Frieza."

"Dad...wait, Frieza?" Trunks questioned. "But he's dead, we killed him. And your dad killed him in this timeline." Trunks extended his ki senses focusing on the energy emitting from Ginger town. It was Frieza, and also King Cold. "It's his dad also...and you Gohan. How though, you are right here next to me?"

Gohan had also sensed his own energy and was starting to wonder if this wasn't just some horrible nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. "Suppress your ki and we will fly in low to check things out."

"Got it," Trunks said as he followed instructions. He had to return to his normal form, but that wasn't really an issue. They landed just outside the town, and moved rapidly from cover to cover. What they saw...

Cell finished absorbing the energy from the last living human in the town when his attention snapped behind him, just in time to dodge a massive energy wave that was heading for him. A golden haired warrior floated in the air behind him, hands raised. Cell took a considering look at the fighter, his database program stripping away the years from the fighter. "Gohan how nice to see you alive and well...for now anyway," Cell said with a smile. A smile that was quickly wiped off his face as he felt a sword slice through his tail, to be followed by an energy blast pressing into his back and blowing him forward.

"Finish Buster!" Trunks yelled as placed his hands against Cell's back, sending the monster flying forward. Not wanting to give the creature a chance to recover, the Super Saiyan followed up with an energy barrage. Looking above him he noticed that Gohan was also raining energy blasts down on the foe. Finally after an intense barrage they stopped firing. "Do you think we got him Gohan?," Trunks asked as he extended his ki senses into the massive smoke filled crater that what was left of the center of Ginger Town.

Gohan shook his head. "Not yet, his ki signal is weak, but it is still there. I don't see how he will be able to fight us anymore though. Maybe we can get some answers now." He landed as he spoke, but didn't relax his guard. "For starters how he knows who I am."

"Gohan!" Trunks said, an urgent tone in his voice. "I think this creature he's the one giving off all the ki signals that are like our friends and family, also like our foes. He still feels like you, but like you did after the Androids almost beat you to death the day I transformed."

As the smoke cleared, Cell stood in the center of the crater trying to stem the bleeding with hi his one remaining arm. The other had been blown clean off, and the creature's chest and legs were pocketed with burns from energy blasts.

"Give it up monster. Explain yourself and you will get to live for a little bit longer." Gohan didn't promise that he would spare Cell, that Gohan was long gone, washed away in all the years spent fighting the Androids.

"Very well, I yield," Cell said, every breath a clear effort. Already though, his cells were knitting him back together. He just needed to stall for more time, and the fools were giving him the perfect way to do so. "My story is a long one, but you can believe that I speak truly when I say that I mean you no harm. You are not the reason I was created."

"Why should we believe you after what you did to this town you freak?" Trunks began to reply, only to fall silent when Gohan raised a hand for him to do so.

"For what were you created and who created you?" Gohan had _a horrible feeling that he knew the answer to the who already. It would just be fucking wonderful if they had to fight this monster on top of fighting the Androids. Well it wasn't going to happen, because once they got their answers they would finish disposing of their foe._

"My name is Cell and you know my creator already, the good Dr Gero," Cell explained.

"Android!" Trunks hissed flaring his power again and pulling his sword out. He wasn't going to suffer an Android to live.

"Trunks stand down," Gohan ordered, none of the internal tension he was feeling coming across in his voice. "You fight when I say to fight and not before. That was our agreement. Besides, Androids don't give off energy. They especially don't give off energy of dead fighters."

Trunks sheathed his sword, but kept his hand ready to draw. "As you command, Master."

Cell didn't miss a moment of the exchange. His database had no record of this Trunks, but clearly the one he had to address himself too was Gohan. "I am not an Android as you point out Gohan, you know this because I give off energy. Instead I was grown in Dr Gero's lab. I am made up of the Cells of the greatest fighters, collected over many decades. I have a part of you, a part of your father, a part of Piccolo and many others inside of me."

Gohan's face paled as he heard the news. What kind of sick creature was standing in front of him? Dr. Gero's madness had clearly known no bounds. "So why are you here then? For what were you grown?"

"For one simple task. To rid the world of the Androids," Cell said, not lying but also not telling the truth either. Sure he would remove the threat of the Androids, by using them to become complete. And then, and only then would these two in front of him pay for hurting him like they had.

"Liar!" Trunks spat at Cell. "If you wanted to hunt down the Androids then why were you killing the people of this town?"

Cell shook his head, giving a small chuckle. The healing process was almost complete. He was holding back the outward signs, but the internal damage was pretty much healed. "I didn't kill them, I made them a part of me."

Trunks had heard enough and drawing his sword he charged at Cell, only to be stopped by Gohan appearing in front of him.

"Not yet," Gohan said in a low voice. "Soon I promise, but we need to hear the rest of his story. Maybe he knows of some way to defeat the Androids, some weakness that they have that we can exploit." He turned back to Cell. "Please go on. How exactly do you plan to rid the world of the Androids? They are both stronger then you. You wouldn't stand a chance."

Now Cell allowed a smile to cross his face. "That is where you are wrong my friends." With a loud yell he finished healing his tail and his arm. The burns on his body all vanished. "Ah, much better. For you see, I can regenerate."

"Like Piccolo could. That makes sense since you have his cells," Gohan noted. "Still it won't help you if we remove your head."

"Yes like his, but much much improved," Cell said, not bragging but speaking the simple truth. "Allowing me to tell my story gave my body time to heal up."

"For all the good that will do you," Trunks stated. "It just means that we get to hurt you some more before we kill you. Which I am personally okay with."

"Fools," Cell began with a chuckle. "You don't know what you have just done. "I have another set of cells in me remember. I am also a Saiyan, and like the Saiyans I gain strength by recovering from near death situations." He paused to let that sink in. "The more you hurt me, the stronger I get." He spread his arms wide, leaving himself totally exposed. "So by all means come hurt me more, I will just heal and come back even stronger. It doesn't matter how long it takes, sooner or later I will grow strong enough to overcome the Androids, and then once I am complete, I will come back for you."

"Once you are complete?" Gohan asked. If what Cell was saying was true, and Gohan thought it was based on Cell's increased power level, then they needed to kill him this time around or the fight might start to turn against them. If he healed then they needed to reduce him to the point that he couldn't.

Cell saw no harm in telling them, it wasn't like they could stop him anyway. "Yes, I will be absorbing the Androids, making them a part of me. Doing so will make complete. That is my reason for existing. I will spare you because I will need someone to test my new body against at that point. Enjoy the time you have left, and use it well to get stronger."

It only made sense Gohan reflected. Cell grew stronger by taking in the ki of strong warriors. His name Cell had to be a clue of some sort. In order to win they had to destroy every single cell in his body. He couldn't come back from that surely.

* * *

_765 Past Timeline. Capsule Corp, Gravity Chamber._

"Computer, override safety protocols," Vegeta commanded.

"Confirm safety protocols override," the computer responded.

"I say again disengage safety protocols," Vegeta ordered for a second time.

"Voice match confirmed. Safety protocols overridden," the computer reported.

The computer beeped as it processed the new situation. "Shall I engage the defense program at 500 times Earth gravity?" it asked. "Analyses suggests that the defense program capable of causing serious harm when used in conjunction with large amounts of gravity." It beeped again before going on. "My programmer would be rather unhappy if I severely injured you. Nevertheless I am programmed to obey your commands."

"How about shutting the hell up while I think you useless piece of trash?" Vegeta said in an offhand comment, annoyed at the constant patter of the computer.

"Shutting the hell up is not a valid command. Please issue a valid command," the computer responded.

"Do you want me to dismantle you?" Vegeta threatened, starting to steam at the comments of the computer. What the fuck was the women thinking when she programmed this thing anyway?

"This unit is not capable of responding to threats." Again a pause and a beep. "This unit would prefer to not be dismantled however."

Vegeta pushed away the thoughts that had been bothering him and detracting from his training. As much as he wanted to deny it, it mattered to him that Bulma would be displeased if he got hurt. Not that Vegeta believed that Earth tech was capable of causing him serious lasting harm, but it irked him to know that somehow the woman had wormed her way deep enough into his thoughts...he wouldn't call them feelings...that he cared about something displeasing her. "Go to 1,000 times Earth gravity, and then engage defense program at max level," he snapped at the computer.

"Analyses suggest that 1,000 times Earth normal gravity is deadly even to Saiyans," the computer responded. A short pause and another beep. "My creator likes seeing you in bed, but she expressed a preference that you were awake while in bed. Simulations suggest that death is the most probable outcome if suggested commands are engaged. "

"Computer if you don't shut the fuck up and engage the program, I will make you regret it," Vegeta promised. He wasn't going to waste anymore time arguing with a machine.

"Engaging program," the computer responded with what almost sounded like a sigh.

The power dimmed for a moment as the program kicked in.

Almost right away Vegeta was driven to his knees from the intense gravity. He had never felt such pressure in his life. And he had only moments before the drones fully came online. Slowly, the seconds seeming to stretch forever he forced himself to his feet. "I won't lose to a computer that won't shut up," he muttered. As soon as he regained his feet two defense drones streaked out at him, firing lasers. Normally those lasers grazed his flesh at worst, but that was under normal operating conditions. This time the lasers were firing at max power, a power that Bulma had calculated could badly harm anything short of a Super Saiyan, and even then the hits would hurt a lot.

At every other level of gravity Vegeta had been able to dodge some or most of the laser attacks, responding with energy blasts to disable the drones. This was not the case in 1,000 times Earth gravity. Vegeta could hardly stand upright, much less dodge, and so he was reduced to trading hit for hit with the drones, leaving burning lines across his flesh as he disabled the first pair. "Shit..." he muttered to himself. This might not have been the best of ideas.

Disabling the first pair caused four to appear, and Vegeta knew that when he took down those four, eight would appear in their place, and so on until he either took them down faster than they could be recharged or he shut the program down. Before the last time he had hurt himself training in the gravity chambers the only way to shut the program down was to flip the kill switch at the other end of the room, short of the scanners registering him being knocked out. Now there was a voice override, but Vegeta knew he wouldn't be using it. He would either become a Super Saiyan or die trying.

As the session went on Vegeta's wounds got progressively worse as the number of drones he encountered at a single time kept doubling. By the time an hour had passed, he was facing 32 drones at once, and his armor and clothing were all but gone from the laser hits. Over a third of his body was covered in first and second degree burns, and he was in so much pain that he couldn't focus on anything but moving forward. The one bright spot was that his body was adjusting well to the intense gravity, which would have been useful had he only had the focus or energy to dodge.

Finally a combined barrage of laser blasts drove him back to his knees. As the drones circled over his head Vegeta reflected on the choices that had lead him to this point. At every turn he had thought that the birthright to be the strongest warrior was finally his, only to have it yanked away over and over again. First he had been killed by Frieza, and then brought back to life, then he had watched Kakarot reach the fabled status of Super Saiyan. If that wasn't bad enough, they were visited by warriors from the future who informed him that although he had become a Super Saiyan himself in the future, it hadn't been enough as two Androids had killed him. But the humiliations kept piling up as Kakarot's brat also became a Super Saiyan while that honor eluded him...the Prince of all Saiyans, who couldn't become a Super Saiyan himself. Deep inside himself, in an area that he normally kept ruthlessly locked away, Vegeta wondered if Frieza had been right, if he was nothing but a worthless monkey who had laid claimed to a worthless and empty title.

Tears leaked down his burned and bruised face as the broken prince lay there expecting the final lasers to fall at any moment. It was at that moment when Vegeta was ready to let go of everything, to admit defeat for the final time, that his last spark of pride kindled inside of him and he forced himself up to face death on his feet. That final defiant act came from his anger, not at the world for being unfair, but at himself for being a failure. But as he struggled to his feet for the final time, he found that he didn't care. He didn't care if he became a Super Saiyan, he didn't care if he was stronger then Kakarot, he didn't care if he lived past the next couple of seconds. It didn't matter, his race was dead, his title empty and meaningless. And then it happened, the transformation that had been out of his reach for his entire life that had been his single goal since his father told him about it as a small child. Prince Vegeta was reborn.

With the new well of energy filing him, he found that he could hardly feel his wounds and burns. Clinching a fist he let his new power radiate out from him...sending out waves of raw power that smashed the drones down as fast as they could appear. Finally he could contain the power no longer and it exploded outward from him a final time, shutting the program down, and smashing that dammed computer in the final seconds before Vegeta blacked out.

* * *

_Main Compound: Capsule Corp: West City_

"It is so nice to get to see you in a calm situation," Chi-Chi remarked to Bulma as she sipped at the tea provided to her by her host.

"Oh I agree, especially in times like this. Times when peaceful days might be coming to an end very soon," Bulma responded as she also drank her tea as they sat at the massive dining room table inside the main compound.

"And yet, you still went ahead and went through with it," Chi-Chi remarked.

"Hmm?" Bulma inquired not being sure exactly what Chi-Chi meant.

"You slept with Vegeta," Chi-Chi clarified.

Bulma's face turned red at that. "Who I sleep with is my concern, not yours," she scolded her friend. "Besides, you were the one that decided you were going to marry Goku after meeting him one time," she said, tossing a verbal jab back at Chi-Chi.

Chi-Chi shrugged at that. She had been just a child when she had decided she wanted to marry Goku. "It was love at first sight; I don't need to defend that. Besides, whatever happened to you and Yamcha? He prove to be too much for you?" she teased her friend.

"He had too many girls around, so I dumped him." Bulma leaned in close, lowering her voice before she said the next part. "Also Yamcha...how can I put this...lacked in some areas."

"And Vegeta doesn't," Chi-Chi guessed. It wasn't really a question, more of a statement that she was looking to see if Bulma would confirm.

"Mmm... he sure doesn't," Bulma said contentment entering her voice at the thought of Vegeta and his special gifts. "He can also do amazing things with his hands," she told her friend.

Chi-Chi gave a low chuckle. "Yes, so can Goku. Of course, I had to explain to him what it all meant, but he has had enough practice now."

"It must be a Saiyan thing," Bulma said with a wink at her friend. "So, how did you know I was sleeping with Vegeta? I haven't told anyone."

"Before I answer that, I want to know how you ended up sleeping with him," Chi-Chi questioned her friend.

"The first time, it kind of just happened, and things went from there."

"So, a lot like my situation, only involving sex first. I had to wait a while until I married Goku, and then even longer until I explained everything to him."

That got a chuckle from Bulma. "He was really that clueless still? I mean, I remember when I first met him, he was hopeless, but I would have thought time with that perverted old man would have taught him a thing or two."

"You have no idea," Chi-Chi confirmed with a sigh. "Still once I showed him, it was all worth it. Goku is a faster learner...when he wants to be."

"So how did you know about Vegeta and me? And have you told anyone else?" Bulma pressed her friend.

"I haven't told anyone. As to how I know, it is very simple. I can sense life in you. Saiyan life."

That floored Bulma for a moment. She had thought there was the chance, but she hadn't yet taken the tests to confirm. "Are you sure, and how?"

Chi-Chi shrugged. "Goku taught me to sense Gohan when I was pregnant with him. I can sense the same life force inside of you, and since Vegeta is the only other Saiyan left, it was logical that it must be him."

Bulma felt a smile break out on her face. "My first child. I don't know if I am ready, but I am very excited."

"You aren't ready," Chi-Chi told her.

"Then how do I get ready?"

"For a Saiyan child? You can't. You have to learn as you go. But, you will have Vegeta to help you, he understands Saiyans much better than I do, or Goku does. Besides, your son will have a playmate."

Bulma looked hard at Chi-Chi. "Do you mean...?" she began.

"Yes, I am also pregnant, and judging from the life force inside of me, the boys...as they are both boys; will be born around the same time."

That got a wider smile from Bulma. "We can raise them like brothers! Make sure that they don't have the intense rivalry of their fathers."

Chi-Chi nodded at this. "Though the fathers might not like that idea."

"Who says they have any choice in the matter?"

* * *

_A/N: Thanks as usual to my beta reader and good friend Chemistry-Deaf. I named the chapter Mirror Image because the two Gohan's are becoming more and more alike, especially in their goal of defeating the Androids at all costs. This is a scary change for those around Past Gohan, but it is one that is logical with the idea of him having the images of the failure and everyone's death to the Androids in his head driving him on._

_I am striving to give everyone their moment in this story, the human fighters although not near as strong as the Saiyans will have their uses in the upcoming fights. Raw power isn't everything._

_Also Goten and Trunks will be born around the same time in this story, unlike in canon. _

* * *

_Power Levels_

_Goku: 25,000,000_

_Goku SSJ: 172,000,000_

_Gohan: 5,000,000_

_Gohan SSJ: 152,000,000_

_Trunks: 38,000,000_

_Trunks SSJ: 185,000,000_

_Piccolo: 6,000,000_

_Piccolo 20 times Kaio-ken: 120,000,000_

_Future Cell: 215,000,000_

_Future Cell Post Zenki Boost: ?_

_Future Gohan: 72,000,000_

_Future Gohan SSJ: 219,000,000_

_Vegeta: 9,000,000_

_Vegeta SSJ: 154,000,000_

_Tien: 1,200,000_

_Krillin: 1,000,000_

_Yamcha: 750,000_


	3. Chapter 3-An Eye for an Eye

**Chapter 3- An Eye for an Eye**

**Android Saga**

_Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing._

* * *

_Age 785 Future Timeline. Ginger Town._

The three warriors stood facing each other in the ruins of Ginger Town. "Get ready Trunks," Gohan instructed over their mental link. Still in honor of what his dad believed in Gohan had to try one more thing. "Cell, if you promise me that you won't kill or harm anyone else I will let you go."

Trunks expression changed from determination to shock as he heard this. "Gohan, this monster wiped out an entire town, he has to pay for what hes done."

"Quiet Trunks," Gohan told him. "He was only doing what he was programmed to do by Dr. Gero. Now he has the chance to make a choice of his own."

"Hes a murder just like the Androids Gohan, he has to be stopped right now while we still can," Trunks spat. The young teens hand rested firmly on his sword. He was clearly ready to draw it and cut Cell into pieces.

Gohan turned his full attention back to Cell. "Tell me Cell, did you gain enjoyment out of killing all of these people? Did you relish their screams as you sucked them dry?" Anger crept back into his voice as he questioned Cell.

Cell calmly watched the exchange between Gohan and Trunks. With his new power, he wasn't worried about fighting either of them. Right now any clash between them was a stalemate. They couldn't muster up the power to kill him, but he couldn't kill them both at the same time. Disable one of them and the odds would then swing drastically in his favor. He choose to answer the second question first. "Did I enjoy their screams? Of course not. Would you enjoy the screams of cows as you slaughtered them for food?"

"So that is all we are to you, food?" Trunks asked, as he shifted into a battle stance.

"Those that I absorb become part of my energy supply. Unlike your human food, the benefit of absorbing them never fades though," Cell said. He saw no reason to lie about this. It didn't matter if they knew about how his powers worked. They were just distractions, his main goal was and would continue to be the Androids.

"I guess you leave us with little choice then," Gohan commented. That was all the information he needed to know, other then where Gero's lab was. If he could find that, then they could shut down any other projects the mad doctor might have started up. Also maybe, just maybe they might find the weakness of the Androids. But Cell would never tell him that. However if they could wound the creature enough, perhaps he would retreat back to the lab and they could find it by chasing him down.

He powered up again, shifting into his fighting stance. He reestablished his link with Trunks. "Now", he thought to Trunks. Vanishing, he appeared to the side of Cell, forcing the monster to shift to face him. Hoping to keep the monster distracted he charged at him, punches flying.

Trunks took the cue waiting, until Gohan was committed with Cell before attacking the monster's back sword swinging. They had practiced this attack sequence while sparring, and several times sense against the Androids. Although it didn't work quite as well with a second Android right near by.

Cell was fully committed fending off Gohan's attacks, though so far he was easily able to block all of Gohan's attacks, his power boost and Gohan's lost energy from the first round of combat working in his favor. As he blocked Gohan's attacks he felt Trunks sword bite into his left shoulder, the magical sword cutting deep. This confirmed Cell's idea that this sword was something special, and ducking Gohan's last round of attacks he spun, lashing out with his tail to keep Gohan off balance. Cell allowed the sword to finish cutting through his left shoulder while reaching out with his other hand to snatch it away from Trunks. He whipped his tail back over his right shoulder to attack Trunks with as he removed the sword from the teens hands with his right hand. His right shoulder fell to the ground with a thunk, but Cell paid no notice to that. Already his body was working to first close the wound, and then to regrow the arm.

Trucks took several steps back as he felt the sword being ripped from his hands. He shifted his head to the left to avoid the tail stabbing for his face. "Give me my sword back Cell!" he yelled as he powered up to attack again. Still the teen had learned the price of blind rage against the Androids and so he waited for Gohan to recover before attacking again. This proved to be a mistake as he found himself quickly on the defensive, and from attacks with his own sword no less. Thinking quickly he jumped the first few slashes of the sword, landing on top of the sword with the last one. Trunks could feel the edge cutting into his boots as he charged a large yellow energy sphere in his left hand before firing an energy blast into Cell's face. "Die Cell" Flipping backwards to get out of the radius of his blast, Trunks reclaimed his sword from the stunned monster, shifting it quickly to his good hand, as he searched the smoke for Cell. The teen half Saiyan knew that his last attack wasn't enough to finish Cell. Not with the monster's ability to regrow lost body parts.

So far all was going according to plan Cell thought as he rose up into the air, shielded by the smoke from the last big energy attack that had landed right in his face. His body was finished repairing itself, and they couldn't currently see him. Now it was time to take the next step in this battle. Raising his hands up to either side of his face, Cell prepared the attack that should change the course of the battle in his favor. "Solar Flare," he said, causing a very bright and painful light to fill the battlefield.

The moment that Cell vanished in the smoke Gohan focused his ki senses on the cloud, trying to pinpoint the monster's location. What he saw as the smoke cleared was a very bright light that immediately took away his vision, blinding him and causing him to grab his head in pain. Thinking quickly he closed his eyes tight, allowing his body to adjust not having any vision and clearing his head. He dropped into a fighting stance searching Cell out. Thankfully Cell had a ki that could be sensed unlike the Androids.

Trunks having never seen a solar flare before up close and personal, blinked a few times as he tried to clear his vision from the sheer white light that was engulfing it, the pain cutting through all of his senses, blocking them. For several long moments he could only stand there stunned. That was several moments too long when fighting a warrior on Cell's level. Trunks felt a quick pain on the back of his neck, and he stumbled forward, falling to his knees. As he fell to the ground he lost his grip on his Super Saiyan form and his hair returned to purple. As darkness overwhelmed him he felt only shame, shame at his failure, shame that he was leaving Gohan alone to fight once again.

Cell lowed his hand as Trunks crumbled to the ground. The boy would live, he would just be out for a while. Cell no reason to kill Trunks, it wasn't like he was currently a threat to him attaining his perfect form. Besides he needed someone to test himself against once he became perfect. Someone who could understand and be in awe of the power that would be his perfect form. Spinning around he got his defenses up just in time to block an attack from an enraged Gohan. The Saiyan warrior flash his golden aura as he increased the pace and force of his attacks. They hadn't fought at this level before, and in the moments that it took for Cell to adjust his defenses were shattered. The force of the blows from Gohan sent him spinning into a still standing building, smashing through the structures that held the building up. As he settled against a wall in the middle of the building, the whole thing started to shake. Cell looked up in time to see the entire thing collapse on top of him.

Anger clouded Gohan's vision, anger that he hadn't felt in a long while. It was one thing to attack the people of the planet, people he should be able to defend, but often failed to defend, it was another thing to attack his friend and student. Gohan wouldn't fail Trunks, not like he failed Piccolo. Visions of the day the Androids arrived ran through his head, fueling his anger. It was happening all over again, his friend was in danger and counting on him, and he wasn't coming through. Well not this time. Gohan cupped his hands off to the side. "Kamehameha!" he yelled, shooting the blue energy beam at the ruins of the building that fallen on Cell. He knew that Cell was down that and he was going to flush him out and kill him. Rising into the air he followed up the Kamehameha with a series of energy blasts, all directed at the crater in the ground that used to hold to the remains of the building. Those remains had been turned into dust by his first Kamehameha, leaving behind a massive building shaped crater.

Cell, however, wasn't at the bottom of the crater. While Gohan was firing off his energy blasts, Cell was tunneling under the ground to come up behind Gohan. He left a ki infused afterimage behind to make it appear that he was still there, suppressing his power so he could sneak up behind Gohan. It had occurred to Cell, that Gohan's energy would make a nice boost to his power. He knew that his body wasn't set up to absorb Gohan, not the way that he would with the Androids, but he could suck some of Gohan's energy for himself.

Popping out of the ground behind Gohan he grabbed him in an arm lock, pinning the half Saiyan's arms against his sides before he could react. Cell slowly raised his tail over his shoulder, wrapping it around so that it was facing Gohan. "Don't struggle, you will just make it worse for yourself Gohan. I don't plan to kill you, I simply want some of you're energy as a snack before I go look for the Androids." He tightened his grip as he spoke.

Gohan felt Cell at the very last moment, but couldn't react quickly enough to stop himself from being grabbed from behind. Fear lanced through his body and he struggled to escape Cell's grip. Nothing worked. Finally, out of desperation, Gohan threw his ki outward as an energy blast, an energy blast that he was caught up in as well.

Both fighters fell to the ground, stunned from the explosion of energy. Cell recovered first, as his body healed, standing up and walking over to the prone Gohan. "You shouldn't have done that Gohan. Now we are going to do this hard way." Cell planted his foot on Gohan's chest, pressing down to cause the half Saiyan warrior to scream out in pain.

Gohan struggled under the weight that was Cell's foot, trying to escape, but all his struggles netted him were more pain. "You are going to die Cell," he spat out, as he spit up blood.

Cell gave an amused chuckle. "Oh Gohan you just don't get it." He lowered his tail so that it was right in front of Gohan's face. "I was just going to take your energy, from your arm before. Not enough to kill you either. You would have recovered just fine. But now... now its going to hurt." He stomped down again on Gohan's chest. "Hurt more then anything you have ever felt."

Gohan looked up in terror as Cell's tail darted slowly at his face. Tears ran down his face, both from the shame of failure, and the pain. He was unable to lift a finger between the energy wave of his own doing, and the recent attacks by Cell. He had felt ribs break with each stomp on his chest and now even breathing properly was tough, not to mention painful.

Without wasting another moment Cell plunged his tail into Gohan's right eye, carefully stopping short of reaching Gohan's brain. He didn't want to kill him, he wanted his energy. His body jolted a bit as Gohan's energy surged into it. Power! Yes this was a very good meal, much better then he had gotten from any of the towns he visited so far. Things were falling into place faster then Cell had believed possible before he encountered these warriors. The energy felt so good that Cell had to be mindful not to suck up too much of it. As Gohan stopped struggling and went limp under his foot, Cell withdrew his tail. He bent down to kneel besides Gohan, checking his pulse. Good, he was still alive, though given his ki reading he was hovering on the edge of death. Cell thought he should do something about that. After all the two warriors were his best chance to find the Androids. He could check in on them when he felt their ki raise to battle levels.

Cell raised a hand and extended a finger, shooting out a small amount of energy from the tip. He used that energy to burn close Gohan's wounds, scaring them over. When he got to Gohan's right eye the half Saiyan jerked from the pain, coming too. Cell bent down by Gohan speaking slowly so that the warrior could hear him through his pain. "I am going to give Trunks a bit of my energy, enough to wake him up and get you to safety. I have sealed your wounds but you are very weak right now. I don't want you to die on me Gohan. I need you alive." With both Gohan and Trunks fighting the Androids they would last long enough and tire the Androids out enough to tip the scales in his favor Cell knew.

Cell floated up into the air, extending a hand and creating a blue ball of ki. He allowed energy to pool in that ball until he judged it to be enough. Focusing he transferred that blue ball of ki to Trunks, summoning the teenager back from being knocked out as he gasped from the influx of energy. Then before Trunks could adjust back to what was going on, Cell took off, leaving the battlefield.

Trunks struggled back to his feet, scanning the area for Cell. Nothing. He couldn't sense Cell in the area. But why did he leave? Trunks wondered. Shock flooded his system as he realized that he could hardly sense Gohan's ki. It was there but it was very weak. He hurried over to Gohan, gasping as he noticed Gohan's missing right eye. He dropped down besides Gohan, gently picking him up. "Hold on Gohan, I will get you to help and safety." No hospital could treat Gohan, Trunks knew. They wouldn't know where to begin with a Saiyan. Trunks knew that his mother would however. She had been spending time for the past five years trying to find a way to replicate what the Senzu Beans did. She had taken one of the last remaining ones for study.

Cradling Gohan in his arms Trunks flew towards West City. He landed outside of the remains of Capsule Corp, carrying Gohan inside. "Mom!" he called out. "Come quickly, Gohan is badly hurt, he needs your help."

Out from the lab hurried Bulma. She froze for a moment at the sight of Gohan's body laying limply in Trunks arm. Was he...no he couldn't be dead, she wouldn't allow it. She lead Trunks into the medical lab, strapping Gohan down to the exam table. Moving rapidly to a nearby drawer, she pulled out a vial of green liquid. "This is as close as I have been able to come to recreating the Senzu bean," she explained to Trunks. "If we make Gohan drink it, it should stabilize him. Saving his eye is beyond us though. Maybe it could have been done before the Androids arrived, but not now."

Trunks nodded. "Let's do it." Together they forced the struggling Gohan to drink down the liquid. At first nothing happened and Trunks shot a questioning look at his mother.

"Give it time Trunks. It is not a Senzu bean," Bulma explained.

After a few long minutes the scars vanished from Gohan's body, leaving only the scar over where his right eye used to be. Gohan's breathing became regular, and he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_Age 766 Past Timeline: Son Goku household. Six Months before the arrival of the Androids. _

"You need a break Gohan," Chi-Chi told her nine year old son. "You have been training nonstop for over a year now."

Gohan shook his head. "I don't want a break mom, nothing is more important then my training. I have to defend my friends." As it was Gohan was balancing training and school.. To make his mom happy he had agreed to spend a couple of hours each day on his studies. His mother's response had been to work him extra hard in those couple of hours each day.

"You will take a break as your mom tells you to," Goku told his son firmly. "Besides your body needs downtime to recover from the results of all the training we have been doing. Not even I can train all the time."

Gohan wasn't happy with that, but he knew that trying to disobey his father lead to often painful results. It wasn't often that Goku said to do something, but when he did it was best to listen. "Yes daddy."

Goku gave his son a smile, ruffling his hair. "Good boy." His expression brightened more as he had an idea. "Gohan why don't you go catch dinner for us tonight in the lake?." The way Goku phrased that made it clear that it was a gentle order, but an order nonetheless.

"Yes daddy." Gohan left the house after finishing his breakfast, heading down to the lake. He could have flown there, but he found it more fun to run through the woods. To test himself he decided to leap from tree branch to tree branch without ever touching the ground.

Upon arrival at the lake, Gohan focused his ki, looking inward as Piccolo was attempting to teach him. He was in contact mentally with Piccolo at almost all times, both to keep an eye on him, and because Piccolo was trying to teach him to harness his anger and use it to tap fully into his powers. Gohan knew that Piccolo believed that the Super Saiyan form was only the beginning, Gohan had to have more power inside of him, he just had to learn to bring it out. To do that he had to learn to master his anger.

Gohan reached out through his link to Piccolo. "I don't want to stop training," the young boy complained. "The Androids will be here in six months."

"Then don't stop training," Piccolo replied over the link. Only from Gohan would he allow that kind of whining, and even he had his limits with Gohan's ability to complain.

"But I have to go fishing for dinner," Gohan explained.

"Then train while you fish,"

"How?" Gohan questioned.

"Fish with your ki only."

"I don't know if I can. I don't know if I have that level of control. Not like you or dad does."

Piccolo sighed to himself. Always with the doubts. That was one of the things that was holding Gohan back. He had become more prone to doubt himself since his visit from his future self. Even though Gohan had reached Super Saiyan even before Vegeta, he still doubted himself. "Gohan I wouldn't assign you this task if I didn't think you could do it. Doing this will improve your level of ki control, giving you training. Not all gains in training are made in terms of power level increases," Piccolo reminded his young charge.

"But how?"

"Use your ki senses to find the fish, and then use your control over ki to part the water and bring the fish to you," Piccolo explained. "Like Frieza would have done using his ki control."

"I don't know if I can do that Mr. Piccolo," Gohan complained.

"Gohan if you complain again, you are going to regret it the next time we train," Piccolo promised him.

"Sorry Mr. Piccolo. I will try my best to do it your way," Gohan promised him over their link.

"I know you will kid," Piccolo answered before cutting the link off. He didn't shut it off completely, but he dampened it down.

Gohan sighed as he slowly rose up into the air. Sitting down in mid air he crossed his legs like Piccolo had shown him several times in the past. Focusing his energy inward, Gohan went through a series of calming rituals. Once he was exerting only enough ki to keep him airborne he slowly started to draw on his power again. A small invisible ki wave shot out of Gohan's outstretched hand, peeling the water back layer by layer, without disturbing the overall river. He smiled as he spotted several fish swimming around. No doubt they were wondering what happened to the several layers of water above them, and why the sun was all of the sudden so bright. Gohan pointed at one of the larger fish and a small energy beam shot out of his finger.

The fish struggled for a few moments as the energy beam burned it in the side, before flopping over. Before the fish could sink to the bottom of the river, it was lifted up into the air, to float in front Gohan. It worked! Piccolo was right, he could do it. It wasn't something special, it was just using his ki in a different way, like Frieza had. The fish started to fall out of the air as Gohan's focus slipped, before being caught in the invisible ki net that Gohan had created under it.

So focused internally, was Gohan that he didn't notice his connection to Piccolo flicking in and out at first. It took a weak "Gohan!" from Piccolo to snap Gohan back to reality. Grabbing the fish out of midair, Gohan quickly returned to his house. Bursting through the door, he stropped to toss the fish onto the kitchen counter. "Dad we have to go help Piccolo, hes in trouble."

Goku looked up from rest. Quickly he reached out for Piccolo's ki. Nothing. Instead he reached out for Kami's ki, that was still there. Gohan was clearly overreacting, because of the visions of Piccolo dying in the other future. It had made them closer then before, closer then Goku would have thought possible for the son of King Piccolo. Goku plastered a smile on his face. "I am sure there is nothing to worry about Gohan. Piccolo just likely wants to be left alone. Kami is just fine, so nothing dangerous can be happening to Piccolo.

Gohan clinched his fists together, as he found himself doing more and more often when he got frustrated with something. He had a hard time repressing the urge to hit something sometimes. "Dad seriously, I can tell that Piccolo is in trouble. Now please, lets go help him."

Goku got up off the couch. "Even if I believed that Piccolo ran into something that he couldn't handle, then there would be another massive energy level in the area. There is nothing, he just wants to be left alone Gohan."

Gohan slammed his fist down on the table, causing it to crack in several places before falling apart. It felt good to have an outlet for his anger. "I have a special connection with Piccolo, I can tell hes in trouble. If he isn't raising his power level then it's because he can't. If you don't come with me, then I will check it out on my own dad."

"Even if I wanted to help you Gohan I can't. My instant transmission doesn't work without a power level to lock onto. We can't currently sense Piccolo's power level."

Before Goku was even finished speaking, Gohan was already out the door, flying towards Piccolo's last known connection.

* * *

Chi-Chi came running downstairs to see the mess of the remains of the dinning room table. "What happened Goku?" She noticed the fish sitting on the kitchen counter. "If Gohan brought back the fish, then where is he?"

"He came in saying Piccolo is in trouble, and when I disagreed with him, he smashed the table and left."

Chi-Chi's expression shifted to disgust as she heard Piccolo's name. She had still never forgiven him for kidnapping Gohan for six months after Goku had died fighting Raditz. She rounded on Goku. "This is all your fault Goku," she yelled at him.

"My fault how? Gohan was one the wrecked the table," Goku responded, misunderstanding where this was going.

Chi-Chi got right into Goku's face poking her finger into his chest with each word, and forcing him to take several steps back. "You gave him the idea that Piccolo could be good for him. That monster that tried to kill you, that did kill you, that kidnapped Gohan, that you let do things to Gohan's head!" She was breathing hard after her rant and she stood with her hands on her hips waiting to see what Goku would to say.

"But Chi-Chi, Piccolo had to take Gohan, Gohan needed training. And Piccolo helped Gohan transform into a Super Saiyan, not too long ago," Goku explained defending himself. "Without Gohan we, the entire planet is in trouble."

"You think I want my son to be a fucking Super Saiyan Goku? You think I want him to be a monster?" Chi-Chi yelled again at Goku. And she was just getting warmed up. "You think I want him to be so obsessed with training, that he wants to do it all day every day?"

Goku looked hurt by Chi-Chi's words. What was wrong with wanting to train all the time anyway? That gave him the strength to protect the planet. If he wasn't so "obsessed" with training the planet wouldn't be here right now. "Training has let me stay strong Chi-Chi, training has let me protect you, protect Gohan, protect the people of this planet."

"Protect Gohan from being kidnapped?" she asked her voice dripping with scorn. "No wait you couldn't because you were dead. You were dead and Gohan was gone, in the hands of that monster." Chi-Chi walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a frying pan. She threw the fish up into the air, and grabbing a knife she quickly chopped the fish into several much smaller pieces, all of which landed neatly in the frying pan. After laying the frying pan back on the stove, she tightened her grip on the knife. "You think that I want him to risk his life against the Androids? The Androids that from the future killed everyone but him? "You think I want him to have nightmares so bad that he can't sleep at night? While you slumber not knowing anything, I have to go comfort him every single night, he can hardly sleep without me spending hours calming him down. That is what you have brought upon Gohan, Goku," she finished waving the knife at him as she spoke.

* * *

As Gohan closed in on Piccolo's suspected location, he started to notice clues that something was very long. Piccolo's location was hard to pin down, as Gohan couldn't sense his energy, he was tracking him through their mental connection. He was currently flying over a forest, and the forest looked like a localized fire had taken place, followed by a stampede. Several burned and broken trees laid scattered all over the forest, leaving a clearing that clearly hadn't been there a couple of hours ago. Gohan pulled up short as he spotted something that had to be impossible. That ship...it couldn't be. Gohan hadn't seen that ship since...since the day that everything changed for him.

* * *

_Reviews_

_SeanHicks4_

_Interesting overall plot but I noticed a few points that make no sense because canon contradicts them like at that point only Krillen and Gohan of the main fighters present at Vegeta's landing wouldn't have been trained by King Kai and picked up Kaioken and Spirit bomb by the android saga. Also Goku had stacked Kaioken like 20 or 50 during his fight with Freiza on Namek so seamlessly that King Kai didn't notice and was surprised when Goku said he was already at his bodies current Kaioken limit when King Kai said the quick boost could help Goku out...  
I also don't really get your math for Super Saiyan, I could have sworn each level was either a times ten or to the tenth power to the base or previous form, not like it matters anyway with the Zfighters ability to hide their true power and the only ones to really give empirical measurements seemed to be the PTO during the Saiyan and Namek sagas...then again I was never good at math..._

**A: This is an AU. What happened in canon has little reverence here, because events are already shaping up to be vastly different. Goku was able to pass on the Kaio-ken to the weaker fighters. Neither Gohan or Vegeta needed, as they were both capable of becoming Super Saiyans. Goku can't stack the Kaio-ken with his Super Saiyan form, the one time he does the "Super Kaio-ken" in the anime, is in a saga that never happened in the manga. The problem with most power level systems is they don't take limits into account. Without limits there is no reason for the Saiyans to unlock higher forms. If limits didn't exist on their current forms, then they could just keep training in those forms until they got strong enough to defeat their foes. There is a reason that Goku and Gohan didn't go back into the HTC a second time. That reason is that in canon they were already close to their limits as Full Power Super Saiyans, so more training in the HTC wouldn't have helped much. In Gohan's case he had already broken through the Super Saiyan two barrier in the HTC, giving him the power edge on his father. Power levels matter as a reference, they don't mean that the fight is always going to go to the fighter with the greater power. That only happens when a fighter is roughly 25% stronger then his/her foe. At that point no amount of skills can overcome that gap. **

**Thank you for your review and comments. I am always happy to further explain things. **

_CMCMC_

_This is very well written and I really surprised that I had missed it when you initially published it. There is much praise that I could give you but the two BEST things, I think, about this story are_

(1) the length! Most stories that involve Gohan retiring to the past typically seem to be very rushed but your story, right now, seems to be paced very well.

(2) I think your handling of Gohan was superb. Not just present day Gohan but also future Gohan, especially how future Gohan is much darker. The interaction between the two seems to bring about a believeable reaction for Gohan wanting to train heavily and continue to push forward.

(3) was the line "whatever it takes" from last chapter taken from Godzilla (2014) because it seemed to emulate a part from that movie? It's probably just a coincidence but I was just wondering

Anyway best of luck and looking forward to seeing more

**A: Thank you for the praise. I hope this chapter lives up to the other two. **

**1\. I am trying not to rush the writing in this story. There is a lot I want to cover, so sometimes it is hard to remember that I need to keep things moving at a reasonable pace. There is a lot that needs to be covered in both timelines, things that can't be rushed. **

** you again. That was exactly my aim, and continues to be. They are more alike in this story then they are different. There will be more interaction between them down the road.**

**2\. The quote was not from any movie. It just felt like the right response to the situation, so I included it in the story.**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope that you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

_George_

_This is a great story with the detail and pacing being excellent. Cells intro was good and it's nice to see someone who uses the 'show, don't tell' rule when it comes to certain things (gohan and trunks relationship). Any particular reason why vegeta cares more about bulma in this story than in canon? I mean no besides present gohan changed that much from canon with future gohan being alive. Anyway good job, you deserve more reviews. Minor nitpick though(I could be wrong): doesn't cell lose energy from regenerating? I mean he only gained power from near complete destruction and gokus IT kamehameha caused him to lose power. Anyway sorry for the wall of text._

**A: I am glad that people are enjoying the detail and the pacing of the story. I am a believer in the show not tell method of story telling as much as possible. Vegeta and Bulma have gotten closer then they were at this point in canon. She is much more supportive of his training, and he is settled down more with her. Gohan's changes are causing changes in others. For example his transforming into a Super Saiyan drove Vegeta to train harder then ever, causing him to push Bulma into making him new and better robots to train with. He was willing to risk everything, because his pride wouldn't allow him to be surpassed by the son of his rival. **

**I am hopeful that I get more reviews as well. They are very helpful to me as a writer, and they inspire me to write more. **

**I gave Cell the power boost, because he bounced back from injuries that would have killed most fighters, and I think that is how the Saiyan genes in him work. I don't think they should only work if he blows himself back, or he loses the top half of his body. The fight that he can heal almost any wound shouldn't mean that he doesn't get the boosts. **

_Dyton__ (Chapter 1)_

_This was an awesome twist on the canon storyline. Definitely loved the return of Gohan and what he told past Gohan. 'No matter what,' hopefully past Gohan follows a path of a warrior. With the memory of Piccolo as his driving force. Everything was well written. Can't wait for the next chapter._

_**A: You nailed it exactly. Thank you for the kind words**. _

_Dyton__ (Chapter 2)_

_Well that was definitely an interesting chapter. There was much to like about this chapter. Right of the bat when we started with Gohan defying his mother and going out to fight, made me smile like a mad man. I hope that Gohan's driving force is not just the androids and that he realizes that the galaxy is a large place with evil everywhere. I like a smart Gohan, but I love even more a super powered-up smart Gohan :). I like Gohan at the top of the food chain :)._

Definitely liked the parallels between both Gohan. They are still plenty different, like Mirai is more calm and collected and less prone to rush into battle without all the details in hand. Gohan of the past still hasn't learned that skill yet. Glad to see him transform earlier. It always annoyed me that they practically gave Trunks and Goten SSJ with little trouble and a little bow on top, but Gohan had to go the nine miles to reach that level. Thanks for giving him the SSJ power, and explaining logically why he got it, other than because the plot required it.

I wonder how the introduction of Cell change things. Keep up the awesome work.

**A: It was important that Gohan stand up to his mother. Otherwise no chance for longer term change existed. It also was important that a clear message that things will be different was sent. We will see how the fights against the Androids and other threats changes Gohan's viewpoint on training over the long term. Let's just say that the Androids and Cell aren't the only threats that Earth will face in the Past Timeline. **

**I am glad that you are noticing and enjoying the parallels between the two Gohan's. That is a very important part of this story. Gohan of the past still has yet to master his anger, while Future Gohan, has mastered it some what, but not enough to allow him to reach the next level that he needs so badly to defeat the Androids in his timeline. **

**As for how Cell will change things...I give you this chapter.**

* * *

_Power Levels_

_Trunks (tired): 28,000,000_

_Trunks SSJ: 175,000,000_

_Future Cell Post Zenki Boost: 225,000,000_

_Future Cell (tired): 210,000,000_

_Future Gohan (tired): 62,000,000_

_Future Gohan SSJ: 209,000,000_

_Future Gohan Post Zenki Boost: 73,000,000 _

_Future Gohan Post Zenki Boost: 220,000,000_


	4. Chapter 4-My Wish

**DI **

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 4 – My Wish**

* * *

**_"Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting"_**

* * *

Gohan looked down at the forest in disbelief and mounting rage. Frieza was alive somehow. He had to be because that was his ship. It was because of Frieza that his future counterpart had visited. With his visit, he brought the vision of Piccolo dying which repeated over and over by the Androids playing in his mind whenever he slept. Before Gohan knew it, he had transformed; his golden aura lighting up the sky. "Frieza!" he called, his voice booming as a result of his transformed state. "Get your ass out here, so I can kill you properly this time!"

The person to step out of the spaceship wasn't Frieza though. It was a purple skinned alien with a scouter over his left eye. He looked into the sky and saw a blond boy floating there."Could you keep it down mate? We are trying..." That was all he got out as a beam of energy blew through his body, cutting deep furrows along the side of the ship. A second blast cut into the ship; causing it to fold into itself.

Gohan panted a bit in mid air as he watched the wreckage of the ship for any signs of movement. Did he get him? Did he get Frieza finally this time? Just as Gohan was about to turn away, the wreckage started to shift around as a hand stuck up through it. "Frieza!" Gohan thought. Well, he wasn't going to give him any chance this time. No way. Gohan started to build energy for a powerful attack. Only to find his vision blocked by his...father.

"Gohan, you need to calm down. Your power levels are jumping all over the place," Goku said, worried to see his son transformed with no enemy to fight.

"Daddy...Frieza...space ship..."

"What? Frieza?..." Goku felt a massive power level appear behind him and spun just in time to take an energy blast to the chest. Stunned, he fell out of the sky.

"Daddy!" Moving rapidly, Gohan caught his father; lowering him to the forest floor before floating back up to confront Frieza. Only, the person he saw floating across from him wasn't Frieza. He looked like Frieza, but his power was different, and he was taller. "Who are you?" Gohan asked.

"I could ask the same of you. It is impressive for a child to have such power. Were you the one that killed my crew and blew up my ship?" Amazingly, the Alien didn't seem to have a scratch on him.

"My name is Son Gohan, and if you don't answer my questions, I am going to kill you." In his Super Saiyan form, Gohan had very little care about hurting others. At the back of his mind, he felt the others on their way to check out the two high power levels. Still, no sign of Piccolo's power level though.

"Such a pertinent child," The Alien remarked. "Very well. My name is Cooler, and Frieza was my younger brother. I imagine he got himself killed foolishly running off to this planet after his battle on Namek. I was hoping to meet the one who killed him, Son Goku is his name I believe."

"You came here too," Gohan pointed out. "How is that not foolish?" If he couldn't kill Frieza, then his older brother would do. Quite honestly, any bad guy or even a not so good guy would do right now. Gohan just wanted to give into his urges to rip someone apart. He fought the urges for a bit longer, trying to gather more information like Mr. Piccolo would want him to do.

"Why? Because unlike my dear brother, I have a trick or two up my sleeve. It is the little things that make all of the difference. Now, if you don't mind child, I would like to be directed to speak with Son Goku. We have some unfinished things to talk about, he and I."

"Cooler?" a voice to the side of them asked in disbelief.

Cooler turned to face the speaker. "Why, it's Vegeta. I thought my brother killed you a long time ago. Well, maybe I will kill you to honor his memory...or maybe you can come work for me. I need new bodyguards. Mine met with a tragic end just recently."

Vegeta floated with arms across his chest. Cooler didn't scare him not any more. "Or maybe Cooler, I will rip you limb for limb. To test how much pain you can handle before everything goes numb."

Cooler laughed at Vegeta's statement. "So, you think because my brother is gone that you can talk above your station." He spoke with menace in his voice now. "If you grovel properly, then I will consider letting you join my bodyguard ranks."

"Tell me, Cooler, do you know of the legendary transformation of the Saiyan race?" Vegeta questioned him.

"The Super Saiyan? That is a child's story meant to scare naughty Saiyans into behaving. I used to tease my brother about it just to get him worked up about the Saiyans under him," Cooler replied with scorn.

"It is not a child's story. The brat is in the Super Saiyan transformation right now." Now, Vegeta smiled himself. "And, I will let you in on a little bit of information. He is not the only one capable of making the transformation."

On the ground, Goku slowly rolled over. What had just hit him? Now, he had a massive hole in his fighting clothes exposing the blue undershirt that he wore below. Refocusing, he looked up at the standoff above him. Gohan was still okay, and he had been joined by Vegeta. Standing up, he dusted himself up before floating up to join them.

Cooler took a quick glance at him. "Didn't I just kill you a few minutes ago?"

"Daddy!" Gohan said, excited as he powered down from his Super Saiyan state. Now, that his daddy was recovered, everything was going to be okay. Besides, the transformation was sapping a lot of his energy away.

Cooler didn't miss Gohan's hair turning back to black. "So the legend is true," he muttered to himself. "No wonder my brother lost that fool. I won't make the same mistake as him."

"My name is Son Goku, and you and your kind are not welcome on this planet. Leave now before I kill you," Goku began, giving the bad guy a chance to leave as he usually did.

Cooler chuckled, he had heard that speech several hundred times in the past at least. "So, you are Son Goku then. You killed my brother and my father?"

Goku grinned sheepishly at that. "I wish I could claim credit for that, but it wasn't me that finished them off."

"Then, who was it? Tell me and I will consider sparing your lives. Provided that you show me to where this planets spaceships are kept. Mine seems to have been damaged beyond repair." Which was a massive understatement, considering that his spaceship was only a pile of debris on the forest floor right now.

"That would be us that killed them," another voice said from above, causing everyone to look up. Floating above them was Trunks and Future Gohan. They had been getting weird energy readings since they arrived back in this timeline ten minutes ago. They had set the time machine to hone in on the Past Gohan's ki. Seeing him transformed, they had kept their power levels below what could be detected, and waited to see if they needed to step in.

"Gohan!" Goku said, excited to see his future timeline son again. Then, he did a double take. "What happened to your left eye?"

Future Gohan was wearing an eye patch over his left eye. Before he could answer, Trunks answered for him.

"Gohan had a pointed disagreement with someone in our timeline," Trunks said.

"Yes, well, I will fill everybody in later. For now, let us deal with this Frieza look-alike," Future Gohan remarked.

"So who wants to fight him first?" Trunks asked the others. The five Saiyans exchanged glances.

"There is only one fair way to settle this you know," Goku told the others. "Be right back." Touching two fingers to his forehead, he vanished before returning a few moments later with a group of straws. "Longest straw gets to fight first." He held the straws out first to Vegeta who picked out a long one. After everyone picked, it was Vegeta holding the longest straw.

"Everyone else can stand down. There won't be a need for any other fighters," Vegeta told the others. While it won't be as fulfilling as killing Frieza would be, this would be a close second. The times that he had met Cooler was when Frieza had shown him off as his prize Saiyan to Cooler. The brothers had been involved in an endless game of one up each other. Frieza got more of a power edge in this game due to having a Saiyan Prince at his beck and call. Well, Vegeta swore that he would never be anyone's pawn ever again. Calling upon his memories of how Frieza treated him, Vegeta transformed into a Super Saiyan. His power rocketed through the roof as he finished transforming.

"Marvel at my power, Cooler!" Vegeta yelled at him. "Marvel at the power of a true Super Saiyan."

Cooler floated with his arms crossed over his chest; his tail straight out behind him. "Honestly Vegeta, if this is all a Super Saiyan is capable of, then I am quite frankly not impressed."

No sooner had Cooler finished his insult, Vegeta was already in face. "Is that so Cooler? Try this on for size! Big Bang Attack!" Vegeta unleashed his new attack right into the face of one of the people he hated the most. It wasn't that he hated Cooler directly. It was that he hated what Cooler stood for. The Planetary Trade Organization had ruined his childhood, taken him from his family, and reduced the number of Saiyans to a mere handful.

Vegeta floating panting as he waited for the smoke to clear. When it did, half of Cooler's head was blown away. His body fell to the ground with a loud thump.

"Ha! That was far too easy," Vegeta said with a large grin on his face as he powered down. "I always thought that Cooler was the weaker of the brothers." He started to gloat more, but he felt a massive power reappear below him. _No! It wasn't possible._ "But I just killed him..." Vegeta began.

Cooler stood up, looking rather good for someone who just had half of their head blown off a minute ago. "You can't kill an immortal," he said simply. "Even if you manage to catch me off guard like you did there, I will just heal from whatever damage you can do to me."

* * *

_Piccolo: Location unknown_

Darkness. That was all that he could see. Piccolo had been in the dark before but never like this. This was total darkness. He couldn't see anything; he couldn't even see the outlines of things. He raised his hands in front of his face, or at least, he thought he did as he couldn't see them. How had he arrived here? Piccolo cast his mind back to the last thing he could remember.

He had been in contact with Gohan, and then, he had turned his mental link down. He had been focusing on his own mental training when he had felt a power level appear right behind him. The next thing he had known, all had gone black. Now, he was here. Wherever here was.

Piccolo extended his senses outward searching for something...anything. Nothing. As far as he could tell, he was alone in a place of darkness that extended forever, or at least as far as his senses could extend. What do now? Well, doing nothing wasn't going to get anything done. Picking a random direction, Piccolo flew in a straight line, keeping his ki senses extended for something.

After flying seemingly for hours, he still couldn't sense anything, and he was just wasting energy. So, Piccolo came to a halt. _Gohan! Our mental link, of course._ Piccolo reached out, focusing on Gohan. "Gohan, this is Piccolo." He waited. Nothing. "Gohan, this is Piccolo, please respond." Still nothing. He couldn't feel Gohan on the other end of the link either. Was he dead? The last time he had died, he had been allowed to keep his body and go train with King Kai. He didn't believe that he had done anything that would have caused that to change since then. So, it was unlikely that he was dead then. That meant that someone had put him here, but who? Also, _where was here?_

As Piccolo pondered those thoughts, he doubled over from the pain racing up his body. Recovering quickly, he spun around and seeking out the ki that had just ambushed him. Nothing. As far as he could tell, he was alone. He grabbed his arm this time as it felt like someone was ripping it off. Who was attacking him? The Androids? Had they come early and trapped him here? And, if so, why him where there were much stronger and more dangerous fighters out there?

Piccolo stood perfectly still, listening for any sounds of movement. After many long minutes of this, he concluded that he was indeed alone. It hadn't be an attack on him after all. No, it had to be that someone was attacking Kami.

Piccolo scowled in the darkness at that thought. Trust Kami to always be his weak point. If something happened to Kami, then he would suffer as well. If either of them died, then the other would die as well.

What was going on out there, in the world that he could no longer sense? Piccolo floated in midair, crossing his legs underneath him as he focused inward. Maybe there was a way to extend his powers to pierce through this eternal night and get back into communication with Gohan or Kami. If there was he would find it, Piccolo knew.

* * *

_Kami's Lookout._

"So you see Kami, with all of your friends busy below and Piccolo out of the way, no one even is aware that I am up here," the short green demon looking creature explained to Kami. He stood with his foot on Kami's chest while his minions restrained Popo with their Energy Webbing.

"It was very nice of you to have the dragon balls already gathered for me. It will make my wish so much easier."

"You will never win, Garlic Jr. You will never become Earth's Guardian," Kami assured him.

Garlic Jr looked down at Kami with disgust in his eyes. "And, how exactly do you plan to stop me? Your stronger half is gone, never to return." He pressed down on Kami's chest causing him to scream out in pain. "That's right, Kami, yell out your pain."

"You always were foolish, Garlic Jr," Kami said between ragged breathes.

"Foolish? Who do you expect to be able to defeat me once I am immortal? With the Makyo Star rapidly approaching this planet, soon my powers will be at their peak."

"Gohan will kill you for hurting Piccolo," Kami informed him.

"Gohan? The weak little brat child that sealed me in the Dead Zone the first time? I have something special planned for him."

"He's not so weak anymore," Kami said with a choked laugh. "In fact, he makes you look weak."

"Master, we have the dragon balls ready for your wish," Spice told Garlic Jr.

Garlic Jr nodded. "Finally. Summon the dragon."

The sky above them darkened as the seven dragon balls glowed together. Spiraling out of the dragon balls came a bright white light which soon formed into a massive green Dragon in the sky.

"You, who have summoned me, I will grant you any one wish that your heart desires," the Dragon spoke in his deep booming voice.

"I wish to be immortal," Garlic Jr informed the Dragon.

"It shall be done," the Dragon informed him as his eyes glowed red for many moments. Finally, the eyes faded, and the Dragon spoke again. "Your wish has been granted. It is time for me to take my leave. Farewell." He split apart, gathering the dragon balls up and scattering them across the ends of the Earth.

"Yes! This world and all that is in it will be mine!" Garlic Jr said with an evil laugh. "Now that I am immortal, nothing can stand in my way."

* * *

_A/N: Special thanks to Chemistry-Deaf for her wonderful beta reads. She is a very talented writer and a great friend. If you like my stories, you should go check out hers, especially Broken Perfection. She is uploading a brand new story soon called the Purge, and she has been working hard on the planning for that. I have a bit of advanced knowledge of what is coming down the road in the Purge and Broken Perfection, and it is very exciting._

_I will be adding a special chapter quote to the beginning of each chapter of all of my stories. These quotes will tie into the chapter content, but they may or may not be directly said in the chapter itself. I am going back and adding quotes to the earlier chapters as well. _

_For those wondering we will have the next chapter of A Warrior's Path out as soon as we can._

* * *

_Reviews_

_Reign Of Sorrow_

_Ow my eye! XD Awesome chapter and Damn Cell sadistic._

_**A: Thanks. The loss of his right eye will play a huge part in the story in the upcoming chapters for Future Gohan. With losing the eye, he lost a lot more than just vision on his right side.**_

_jdboss1_

_cooooooooooooooooooooooooooool_

_**A: This review made me smile. I am glad you enjoyed the chapter so much.**_

_Dyton_

_So instead of losing his arm, Gohan loses his eyes. Can't tell which one is the better option in my opinion. Freaking Cell, I can't believe he did that. Well let's hope this near death super powers Gohan's power. I must say that part of the chapter had me cringing many times_

As for the past, I really enjoy that Piccolo has a stronger relationship with Gohan. He always seemed more like a father than Goku ever was. Of course Goku never takes anything serious unless it's right in his face. To be honest I'm not sure who I feel bad for in terms of Goku and Chichi. I mean both have good points, but in general I don't like either of them. So not sure who the support or less hate.

I loved the chapter and I can't wait for the next one. Keep up the awesome work.

_**A: Gohan lost his right eye, not both of them. The difference between a lost eye and a lost arm is as much mental as it is physical. It does increase Future Gohan's power, putting him almost level with Cell. If it had you cringing, then the scene did its job.**_

_**They are closer in this story because Past Gohan feels the guilt of losing Piccolo already in his dreams, and he is determined not to let that happen in real life. Piccolo does help Gohan more at times than Goku does sadly. Goku was never really given the right tools to be a good father since Chi-Chi handles most of the parenting, leaving him free to train.**_

_**Personally, I dislike Chi-Chi more, but I try to present both sides equally when I write about Goku and Chi-Chi.**_

_kitsunelover300_

_This is definitely one of the better stories that I have read where Mirai Gohan doesn't die. The others eliminate Mirai Trunks, whom is vitally important to the story, especially regarding the changes of Vegeta. Had it not been for Mirai Trunks' death by Cell, Vegeta may not have been as "patient" with young Trunks as he seemed to be in the Buu saga, and may not have had that push to be a better father and husband.  
He had a lot of work to do, granted, but it was a giant leap forward._

Anyway, Gohan's development is certainly interesting and I like that he is taking charge of his life. Even though he is 9 years old, he has seen more than most men do in their lifetime and has the burden of being one of the strongest beings in the universe, which will become especially true once he is able to unlock SSJ2, his best form in my opinion.

I do see where Chichi is coming from. This is her son, after all, but I feel like she took what she said too far. It irritates the heck out of me that she calls Piccolo a monster, even when he sacrificed and is sacrificing everything to ensure Gohan's safety and future. She doesn't seem to understand who Goku and Gohan really are, they aren't human, Gohan not fully. They are a part of a warrior race, fighting is ingrained into their DNA and nothing will change that. I wish she would be a bit more like Bulma and, while worry for her son, also support him in what he is doing, ensuring that they all have a future to live in.

Yes, fighting isn't a way to make money unless it's professionally, but making Gohan study all day from the time he could learn to read so you can make him what you want to be isn't exactly healthy either.

That aside, I hope that Mirai Gohan is able to see his alternate little brother, Goten, be born in this timeline. Maybe it'll bring a little light in his dark heart to see something so pure, something that resembles his father and so innocent.

Looking forward to your next update!

_**A: Thank you. I didn't see any reason that Future Trunks needed to die. He is important to this story as well. I agree that in canon, his death sparked a change in Vegeta that allowed him to be a better father to little Trunks. Between Goku and Vegeta, I think that by the end of Z, Vegeta is the better husband and father.**_

_**As much as Past Gohan has seen, he still has several trials ahead of him in this story. He will learn that out of all of the things he must take control of, his anger is the most important. SSJ2 is my favorite form as well. I always thought that SSJ3 wasn't worth it because of the time limit factor.**_

_**Chi-Chi has never forgiven Piccolo for kidnapping Gohan for a year to train him for the fight against the Saiyans even though Piccolo doing so contributed to saving the planet. Add that to the Piccolo that she remembers Goku fighting that said his only goal was to take over the world, it is understandable why she doesn't like him being around Gohan.**_

_**You are correct that she doesn't understand Goku or Gohan, not really. She loved Goku from the very first time she met him, but she has yet to really make the effort to understand him. She treats Gohan as though he is totally human and not half Saiyan. She really should be having him do a mix of studying and training, but she never understood that. **_

_**In this story, I had Gohan agree to spend a few hours each day studying, to make his mom happy, but his training comes first as saving the planet is much more important than hitting the books.**_

_**In canon, Chi-Chi doesn't support the idea of Gohan fighting until after he hasn't trained for seven years, and their money is running out. Even after he saves the planet from Cell, even after he is the strongest fighter, she doesn't want him to at least maintain that level of strength. Had a real threat appeared (other than Bojack), in those seven years, I think the Earth might have been screwed with Gohan not ready to defend it.**_

_**It is funny because with Chi-Chi 100% for studying and Goku 100% for fighting, you think that Gohan would grow up with a balance of the two in peace time, but he doesn't as Goku almost totally gives in to Chi-Chi on what is to be done with Gohan. I never understood why he didn't insist that his son knew the basics at least when he was little. Also, why did it take four and a half years for the others to know that they had a child? That part never made sense to me. You don't see your best friends or talk to them on the phone for over four years? You don't let them know you have a child...**_

_**I think Future Gohan meeting his little brother that he never had would be super cool. Maybe it will happen in this story if Goten is born at all that is.**_

* * *

_Power Levels_

_Goku: 43,000,000_

_Vegeta: 45,000,000_

_Vegeta SSJ: 192,000,000_

_Gohan: 20,000,000_

_Gohan SSJ: 167,000,000_

_Gohan SSJ + Anger: 167,000,000 – 190,000,000_

_Future Gohan: 73,000,000_

_Future Trunks: 41,000,000_

_Cooler Suppressed: 60,000,000_

_Piccolo: 50,000,000_

_Garlic Jr minions: 50,000_

_Kami: 400_

_Mr. Popo: ?_

_Garlic Jr Suppressed: 1,500,000_

_Tien: 1,400,000_

_Krillin: 1,250,000_

_Yamcha: 1,000,000_


	5. Chapter 5-Gohan's Anger

**DI**

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 5- Gohan's Anger**

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****Disclaimer: I don't own any of DBZ****

_Chapter Update 3-5-2015: For story flow reasons, I took the Chi-Chi and Bulma scene here and moved it to chapter 2. This may cause some confusion for new readers with the chapter six reviews, as they reference a scene that has now been moved. _

* * *

**_"My heart is as cold as an endless winter. All it feels is rage."_**

* * *

_The Forest: Facing off against an Immortal Cooler._

"So, you claim to be immortal. Big deal," Vegeta said once he recovered from his shock. "That just means that we can kick your ass over and over again. I won't get bored coming up with different ways to kill you in the most painful ways possible."

Cooler responded to Vegeta's comments with a chuckle. "You just don't get it do you, Vegeta? Your pride blinds you to the reality of the situation. I have all of the time in the world; you can't win."

"You have six months actually," Future Gohan interjected.

_Wait, what?_ Cooler thought._ That was an odd time frame. Was something coming in six months?_ "Oh? And, why is that?" he asked with a smirk that betrayed none of his inner thoughts.

Future Gohan floated down to the ground, his black eye patch covering what used to be his right eye. "In six months, assuming you are still alive, you will learn what true hell is."

"This planet will be ashes in six months," Cooler responded as he rose up into the air, a purple aura springing up around him. "In fact, unless you take me to your spaceships, it will be ashes in considerably less time than that, along with everyone on it but myself."

Purple energy sparked around him as he began to charge an energy attack only to find himself suddenly back on the ground as a powerful kick plowed him into the Earth. He rolled back over to see the unknown warrior standing over him, a sword in his hand pointed right at his chest. "Are you going to let me get up, so at least, it's a fair fight?" Cooler asked his foe.

"I don't let monsters who threaten this planet engage in fair fights," Trunks told him.

Transforming into a Super Saiyan with a rush of power, Trunks slashed his sword down diagonally across Cooler's body, cutting him in half. He followed up by slicing those pieces up further before firing an energy blast that vaporized all of the pieces. Sliding his sword back into its holder on his back, he turned to face the others. "See, problem solved. He can't come back if there is nothing for him to heal from."

"No, he's not dead. I can still feel his energy," Goku said.

"What? That's impossible! There is nothing left of his body! How the hell can he heal from that?" Trunks asked, a look of shock crossing his face. Now, he could feel Cooler's energy as well despite how impossible that was.

"Impossible as it might seem to you, I live yet again," Cooler stated from off to the side. "The dragon was not kidding when he said that it was within his power to make me truly unkillable."

While Trunks had been putting on his impressive display of sword work, Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha have landed on the battlefield, drawn by the ki of combat going on. Krillin had landed in time to catch the end of Cooler, and now watched him standing there as if his body hadn't just been turned into ashes moments before.

"Guys I think...I think we might be in serious trouble here," Krillin said his voice shaking a bit as he spoke.

"In my timeline, Goku killed Cooler quite easily," Future Gohan informed them. "I remember it well because it was the last camping trip we went on before dad died to the heart virus."

"I assume he wasn't immortal in your timeline, boy," Vegeta stated with a sneer. "Or, are you holding back on us?"

The news of his death struck Cooler like a hammer blow mentally for a few moments. Well, maybe his future self had been too rash, too quick to engage without having the upper hand. "I am not him," he stated. "It is time to show you something that no one else has ever seen. You should feel honored as this is the form that I was saving to use against my brother and father." It was time to stop holding back; he couldn't beat them like he currently was.

A massive purple aura sprung up around Cooler as he began the process of transforming. He began to grow in height, spikes appearing on his arms and legs. White armor started to cover his entire body, leaving his face clear for the moment. His muscled swelled up to match his new height.

Trunks clutched his sword tighter as he saw the transformation. "Should we stop him Gohan?" he asked in a low voice that only Future Gohan could hear.

Future Gohan shook his head. "No let him transform," he responded in the same low voice.

"But why? What if he becomes too powerful for us? He is immortal, Gohan! If we don't stop him, no one in the entire universe will be able to."

"They aren't ready yet; that is why."

"Ready? I don't understand," Trunks said with a puzzled expression on his face. He kept half of his attention on the transforming Cooler, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"They aren't ready to fight the Androids when they arrive."

"But, look at their power! Everyone is much more powerful than they were in our timeline."

"Raw power isn't enough. They need to work as a team. You can't beat the Androids one on one, but working together, it is possible."

Cooler finished transforming with a final burst of energy, causing everyone around him to have to protect themselves from the massive windstorm that was kicking up around them.

"So, tell me, what do you think of my new form? Does it strike fear into your hearts?" Cooler asked.

Vegeta stood with arms crossed. "I am not impressed. So, you got taller. Doesn't mean you can light a candle to my true power."

Cooler gave a chuckle at that. "Why don't you come try me then?"

Vegeta transformed back into a Super Saiyan as he charged forward at Cooler. They met with Vegeta's fist slamming against the armor on Cooler's forearm. Quickly, they began to exchange blows, punching and kicking with savage earth-shaking blows.

The other fighters took to the air as the ground around them started to cave in from the power of the Cooler and Vegeta.

Locking their hands together, Cooler and Vegeta struggled against each. As they each exerted more power, the crater they were standing in got larger and deeper.

"Not bad, Cooler, but I am not using anywhere near my full power. What will you do when I do?" Vegeta taunted him.

This was met with a grim chuckle from Cooler. "Oh, Vegeta, you have no idea how over matched you are in this form. Allow me to show you." With a growl Cooler tightened his grip on Vegeta's arms taking advantage of the extra muscle mass this form granted him.

Suddenly, despite his edge in power level, Vegeta felt his arms being crushed and as he drove his ki higher the pain only got worse. Moments later, Cooler had forced him down to his knees from the pain.

"And that, Vegeta, is where you belong, down on your knees, bowing to my family," Cooler taunted him.

"Father!" Trunks yelled from the sky, getting ready to fly down to fight alongside his father. Only he found his way blocked by Gohan, his Gohan. "What the hell? Get out of my way! I have to help my dad!"

Future Gohan shook his head. "No, this is what I am talking about when I say they are not ready. If he can't get away from Cooler, then what good is he to us?" He started to say more, but he doubled over instead from Trunks fist being planted in his gut.

Trunks vanished appearing behind Cooler. "Hey Cooler, chew on this!" He made a few motions with his hands. "Burning Attack!" The yellow energy blast hit Cooler right in the back, sending him flying forward right into Vegeta which sent them both sprawling into the ground. Pulling his sword back out, Trunks moved over to where Cooler was getting back on his feet. "I don't care if you won't stay dead. I will not allow you to hurt my father."

_Father? Vegeta had a child? A teenage child...no that didn't make any sense. He was forbidden from having children without Frieza's express permission. Besides the timing didn't work out. This Trunks must be another one of those annoying future warriors with the doom and gloom predictions._ Cooler shrugged in response to Trunks words. "If you want to die first, that is fine with me. You won't catch me off guard with that sword of yours again."

Trunks flew in at Cooler swinging wildly only to have his sword caught with one of Cooler's arms. The blade scored against his palm, leaving a shallow bleeding cut behind, a cut that closed in moments thanks to the Dragon's magic. Cooler yanked the sword away from Trunks grip, breaking it in half over his knee before tossing the pieces away. He saw the stunned look on Trunks face. "Fools, all of you are fools. You put too much stock into raw power. Do you know what it is like to live most of your life in the shadow of your younger brother just because he had a higher power level at birth? Do you know how frustrating that is? When you are always lagging behind in terms of power level, you learn other ways to keep up with stronger fighters."

_Perfect._ Future Gohan thought. _This is exactly what everyone here needs, a foe capable of pushing their limits and pushing them past their limits._ He had no doubt that they would be able to find some way to kill Cooler for good, and he was staying out of this fight because he wanted the others to try their hand at fighting a powerful foe.

Vegeta exploded up from the ground with his golden aura burning brightly. "I have had enough of this!" he yelled. He turned to face his son. "Boy, stay out this! It is my fight, and my score to settle."

"But father, together we can beat him easily," Trunks protested.

"True Saiyans fight alone. If Kakarot's brat hasn't taught you anything about Saiyan pride then I will."

With that, Vegeta charged back into combat with Cooler. They exchanged several rounds of blows before knocking each other back several feet with their final blows.

_Damn it! we are totally even despite the fact that I have more power than he does,_ Vegeta thought. And, it even meant that he was going to lose as Cooler's body would withstand more punishment. Not to mention that he had being immortal working for him. This was the first time he had used his Super Saiyan form in combat, and he was having trouble drawing out the full power that his body was capable of. He needed time to stop and charge his energy up, time that Cooler wasn't giving him. Was it possible that Cooler was afraid of him which is why he wouldn't back off? Only one way to find out. "Do you want to see what I am really capable of Cooler?" he asked his foe.

Cooler looked intrigued. Why not? It wasn't like Vegeta could kill him anyway, and he had time to spare to totally break Vegeta down and have him begging for mercy, have him beg to serve his rightful ruler. And, depending on the job Vegeta did with his begging, Cooler knew he might consider it. He needed a new bodyguard unit. "By all means, this fight is starting to bore me. I could kill you at any point now, but I have been drawing it out for my own amusement. I am afraid though that if this is all you have to offer then I will have to dispose of you."

Vegeta clenched his fists together upon hearing Cooler's taunts. Anger began to cloud his mind, and he shook his head to clear it. He was getting exactly what he wanted. Better not waste anymore time in case Cooler changed his mind. He screamed as his aura almost doubled in size. He felt his power shoot through the roof as he kept drawing in energy. The wind from his aura cleared the forest around them of its remaining trees for almost a mile around them. Large chunks of tree pelted everyone on the battlefield, but they were crumbled into dust from his aura before they could touch him. Finally, it was all sitting in his hands. This power that he had felt the very first time he had transformed. His all his now. He was the most powerful warrior from this timeline on the planet. Vegeta knew only the Future Gohan topping him in overall power. But not for long, Vegeta vowed to himself. He would discover all of the secrets of the Super Saiyan form; master them and become the legend that his people used to talk about. He would become the warrior that spread fear throughout the universe.

As everyone picked themselves up back up, Vegeta stood there; his aura flared around him. "Now come at me, Cooler."

Cooler flew forward, going on the attack, but to Vegeta, it was as if Cooler was suddenly moving in slow motion. He easily dodged all of Coolers punches and kicks, not even bothering to block or counter.

After several minutes of fruitless attacks, Cooler backed off, charging an energy blast between his hands before throwing it at Vegeta.

Not even bothering to dodge, the Saiyan Prince instead flared his aura, bouncing the energy blast right back at a shocked Cooler, and hitting him dead in the face.

When the smoke cleared, Cooler was wiping some blood off his mouth. "How? How did you get so powerful? A few minutes ago, I was winning, and now, I can't even touch you anymore."

"Wow! Look at dad go," Trunks commented. _He was doing it!_ Cooler was _screwed_. Now, he just had to figure out a way to finish him off.

"This is the true power of the Saiyan Race, Cooler," Vegeta responded to him. "Surely you didn't think that you could stand to up to us. Your brother blew my planet up because he was a scared little child. If I could say anything to him, I would say thank you because his actions shattered the chains he had placed on me, chains that I had placed on myself."

* * *

_Kami's Lookout_

"So, now that I am immortal, do you still think that brat child has any chance at all against me?" Garlic Jr questioned Kami as he applied more pressure to his chest. "My power will soon be at its peak."

Kami coughed up more purple blood. "And, do you plan on killing me?" he questioned Garlic Jr.

"Kill you?" Garlic Jr echoed with an evil cackle. "No, what fun would that be? I don't want it to end so soon. What kind of revenge for my father would that be? Besides, killing you kills the dragon balls and will kill Piccolo which would let his torment end early."

"Then, what do you plan?"

Garlic Jr pulled out a small bottle. "I plan to capture you inside this bottle, storing you away unharmed. Then, I will rule the world as the rightful guardian as I would have done if my father hadn't been cheated out of his ruler-ship."

Garlic Jr took his foot off of Kami's chest, allowing the old guardian to struggle back to his feet. "Take a last look around, Kami, for you will only be seeing the inside of my pocket very soon. I have Piccolo trapped inside the Dead Zone, and you, you will be trapped as well, only to be let out when I want to amuse myself."

Kami ignored Garlic Jr's gloating and used all of his remaining energy to send out a final message telegraphically. Just as he felt his mind connect to young Gohan's mind, he told him, "Come ... the Lookout in trouble. Garlic Jr has returned!" He could only hope it was loud and clear enough for the boy to understand the urgency as his last bit of energy drained out of him, dropping him to one knee.

"Getting tried just from standing up, Kami? No worries, you won't need to worry about standing on your feet for much longer," Garlic Jr cackled. He pulled open the bottle, sucking Kami in with a giant gust of wind. When Kami was inside the bottle, he put the top back on, securing him inside. Everything was proceeding according to plan.

* * *

Down in the forest, Gohan only had time to blink when Kami contacted him when the intensity of the telegraphic message forced him to his knees as he grabbed his head. The message had overridden any thoughts he had previously as his sudden concern about Piccolo's other half arise. After the message ended, Gohan climbed back to his feet, waving off the offers of help from the others. "That was Kami; he needs my help. He says that Garlic Jr is back."

"But we trapped him in the Dead Zone," his father protested.

"Well, he must have escaped. Dad, I must to go. This is my chance to find out what happened to Piccolo. If anyone would know, it is Kami."

"I won't let you go alone; it is too dangerous," Goku told him in a firm voice.

"I will go with him. I am not really needed here. You have the situation well in hand," Future Gohan spoke up.

"Fine. Let's go! We are wasting time, time that Piccolo might not have," Past Gohan pointed out.

The two Gohan's took off for the Lookout.

* * *

"Let me lead," Future Gohan told his past counterpart as they landed on the Lookout.

Past Gohan nodded. "Okay, but we have to find out what happened to Piccolo. I can't lose him. The dreams are bad enough."

"I won't fail Piccolo again," Future Gohan said with an edge breaking through his calm features.

"Two of you? Lord Garlic Jr will be pleased," a voice said to them. A tall light blue demon walked over to them.

"Where is Piccolo?" Past Gohan demanded.

"Oh... the green demon? We took care of him earlier."

In a flash, Future Gohan had grabbed the blue demon by the neck, choking the life out of him slowly. "You better explain what you mean. While you still can."

"He is the Dead Zone where I was trapped for years," the light green demon behind him explained as he threw off his hood.

"Garlic Jr...well I will be dammed, it is true," Future Gohan said with a chuckle.

"I don't know who you are, but I don't care about you. I want the child. Leave now and I will let you live." Garlic Jr didn't seem worried that Future Gohan had his minion by the neck like he was a plaything. He waved a hand, and his other minions stepped forward raising their hands. In a matter of moments, Gohan was entrapped inside of energy bonds that was restraining him.

Gohan looked at the minions like they were shit he had just stepped in. He calmly walked forward, shrugging off the energy bonds as though they didn't exist. At his current power level, they might as well not exist.

As he walked forward, the minions kept backing up till they were right in front of Garlic Jr, causing the short leader to sigh. "Good help is so hard to find these days." He tightened his voice as he addressed his minions. "Try restraining him properly this time."

"Yes Lord Garlic," they said in unison, redoubling the energy bonds they had on Gohan.

Everyone turned to look at the side as they heard a loud snap. Future Gohan tossed the now dead blue demon off to the side. "He was useless, so I had no reason to let him live," he explained to everyone.

Gohan followed up his future counterparts actions by removing the other minions with swift attacks, taking down for the count.

"Not bad," Future Gohan told him, "but you have no reason to let them live."

"But, daddy says never kill unless we have to," Gohan reasoned.

"Monsters like this never change. They come in many forms, but all of them have to be eliminated," Future Gohan explained. "Mercy is for the weak, and weakness will get you killed."

Gohan gave him a shocked look. "Future me, you sound exactly like Vegeta."

"Well, it happens that he was right. Being soft cost me, it cost the entire planet against the Androids. Remember what I told you when we first met."

"Whatever it takes," Gohan said in a low voice.

"Exactly, whatever it takes," Future Gohan repeated.

"Well, this is nice, but can we get on with it?" Garlic Jr asked them. "I have a planet to rule over."

"You have an appointment with death, and the doctor is now in," Future Gohan corrected him.

Garlic Jr started to chuckle, but before he could speak, he got cut off.

"Let Piccolo go," Past Gohan told him.

"Piccolo? He is trapped forever, and there is nothing you can do about it. Clearly, you care about him as every third thing you say is about him. So, how does it feel to know that you failed him? Eats away at you, doesn't it?" Garlic Jr couldn't resist mocking the pain of the child he had hated for so long. He had removed Piccolo to get him out of the way, but it was proving to have side benefits.

_Piccolo was trapped forever...no...he had failed him...just like in his visions._ Red clouded Gohan's vision as he welcomed the anger that was rushing over him. With that, he snapped, yelling out his pain and frustration. The Lookout shook as Gohan's power climbed rapidly. His black hair stood up straight, shifting to gold as his eyes shifted to teal.

_He did it! He made the transformation!_ Future Gohan thought. But, look at him although this clearly isn't the first time he has transformed, he still doesn't have control of it. He needs his anger still to push him into transforming. _We will have to work on that_. Lost in his thoughts, Future Gohan reacted too slowly to Gohan moving.

In a flash, Gohan flew across the Lookout, kicking Garlic Jr in a face with a massive blow that sent the small demon skipping across the tile into the main building of the Lookout. That was a death blow, Gohan knew. He had put a large deal of his power behind that kick. He touched back down on the Lookout tile, keeping his Super Saiyan form. Raising his hands, he vaporized the other minions with quick energy blasts.

"Damn it, Gohan," his future counterpart scolded him. "We could have gotten the information on how to rescue Piccolo out of him. It will be impossible to get that information now that you killed him. You have to keep your temper under control and make it work for you, not allow it to push you into making rash choices."

"He wasn't going to tell us anything," Gohan countered. "Besides you said to show no mercy, and I didn't."

The building behind them exploded as Garlic Jr shot out of the rubble. "Bastards, that hurt!" he yelled as he gathered a dark red aura around himself. "I can use strong warriors such as yourselves as I conquer this planet. First the Earth, and then the Universe. Interested?"

"How the fuck did you survive that kick?" Future Gohan started to ask. He held up a hand. "No wait, don't tell me, you are also immortal. Damn, they must be having some sort of sale on that ability today."

"So, you know that fighting me is pointless as you can't kill me. Do what is best for you. Join me instead."

"Who said anything about fighting?" Future Gohan asked him with a serious expression on his face. "We are going to beat the shit out of you until you open the Dead Zone, or tell us how to get Piccolo out of there."

Garlic Jr laughed at that. "You can't kill me, and in this form, my power grows by the minute. Soon, it will surpass both of yours."

Future Gohan waved his past counterpart forward. "He is all yours. Make sure you don't kill him, just beat him up for a while."

"I will try, Mirai," Gohan responded. He got back into his fighting stance. "But, he is so weak, it will be hard to pull my punches enough."

"Do you even need to be a Super Saiyan to defeat him?"

"Not at his current level of power, but he says he will keep getting stronger."

"If he does, I will step in, or you can transform again."

Gohan looked down at the ground in shame. "I can't fully control my Super Saiyan transformation yet. I need something to set me off."

_Such power._ Future Gohan thought. _But, the boy lacks the control to use it properly. Still there was something different about his power...something that spoke of a greater power...a greater power beyond even Super Saiyan?_ This would have to be examined later on, when they had more time after the threats were dealt with. "Fine, stay transformed. But, be aware that being a Super Saiyan for long periods of time in combat drains away most of your energy."

Gohan shrugged in response to that. "We have Senzu beans to restore our power if that happens."

Future Gohan nodded at that. "True, we ran out of those a long time ago in my timeline. It's been so long that I forgot about them. I have had very little time to reflect on the past."

Garlic Jr was getting frustrated by their talking as if he wasn't at all important. He screamed out his frustration as he drew more power from the fact that his planet was almost right on top of the Earth. His body tensed as he finished pushing out more power. Now, the hulking dark green giant stepped forward. The Lookout shook as he pulled in more power. The sky around them turned dark red, and crimson lightning bolts struck his body. Those lightning bolts seemed to only increase his fury and his power. The lightning bolts got progressive larger and they continued to strike him, one after another. His flesh sizzled and burned from the repeated strikes, but still, Garlic Jr stood there using his body like a lightning rod.

Both Gohans looked on in amazement, exchanging glances with each other.

"Mirai, did he do this in your timeline?"

"Nope, he didn't show up in my timeline. I guess his star never made it here or something. This is some crazy shit though. I have never seen anyone who powers up by being struck by lightning bolts. It is like he is feeding on the pain or something."

"His power is still growing, Mirai."

Future Gohan shrugged at that. "He isn't even up to the limits of my base, and I have my Super Saiyan transformation to fall back on. I am not worried."

"He is beyond my non transformed strength now, so I have to fight him like this."

Finally, as the biggest lightning bolt struck Garlic Jr, the entire fireworks show died down, and the sky returned to normal. Garlic Jr's aura died down to a lighter red. "It feels so good to stretch myself again. I haven't had to take this form since before I came to this wretched planet the first time."

Past Gohan got into his fighting stance as he waited. It was hard to keep the swirl of his anger, of his drive to do anything it took to get Piccolo back, but he had to stick to the plan. He could hurt Garlic Jr but not kill him. Though, why he couldn't kill him if he was just going to come back, Gohan didn't really understand. Still, he had been told to follow orders, and he was going to do the best to do so.

"I guess I should reintroduce myself," Garlic Jr stated, a smile on his face and his voice unnaturally calm despite his flicking aura. "I am Super Garlic Jr, and this is my true power."

Past Gohan gave him a hard look. "Is that all?"

A snarl crossed the face of Garlic Jr for mere seconds before returning to a twisted smile. "Excuse me, child?"

"Your power. Is this all of it?"

_Why that little brat!_ "Are you trying to mock me, Gohan?" Garlic Jr asked him.

Gohan shrugged. "I just asked a question, no need to be a jerk about it. I am just disappointed that is all. I had hoped that I would get a real fight out of this." Transformed, Gohan felt his Saiyan blood singing out for a real fight. He wouldn't be getting it here, it looked like. He should have stayed to face off against Cooler and left the clean up here for his future counterpart.

With a snarl of rage, Garlic Jr changed at Gohan, fists flying.

Faking a calm he didn't really feel, Gohan dodged all of the incoming attacks before countering with a swift jab that sent Garlic Jr crashing to the Lookout floor clutching his middle. "Oh, come on, I didn't even hit you that hard." Gohan complained out loud.

"Gohan, stop playing around and get on with extracting the information from him on the Dead Zone," Future Gohan ordered him.

Past Gohan complied, kicking Garlic Jr in the chest and sending him skidding across the Lookout. As he followed up on the kick by pounding on Garlic Jr further, he wondered why his future counterpart was having him extract the information. It wasn't like he had any experience with this. He shot a blast of energy at the struggling Garlic Jr and burned through the left arm as he wondered more about his counterpart. Did this mean that his counterpart had experience with extracting information? If so, what had pushed him to that point. This wasn't about killing a bad guy; this was about inflicting as much pain as possible. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he shot another energy blast, taking off Garlic's Jr's left leg this time.

Pain...so much pain. It just wasn't fair, he was being taken apart by a child. If it weren't for the magic of the Dragon, Garlic Jr knew that he would be dead already. Still, he had to hold on a bit longer, his planet was almost on top of the Earth. Once they both settled into orbit with each other, he would gain another massive power boost...and...and...the pain...was making it hard to think clearly. He felt the magic of the Dragon healing the wounds that Gohan was causing almost as fast as he was suffering them.

This wasn't working, Future Gohan knew as he stood silently and watched Gohan pummel Garlic Jr over and over again. Gohan's heart wasn't in it, so he was inflicting pain randomly. That was getting nothing done. "Focus Gohan, remember to ask him questions," he called out.

Tears were running down his face as he continued to beat on the helpless Garlic Jr. "Dammit," he growled with a hard kick to Garlic's Jr's ribs that left the demon like creature clutching his chest and struggling to breathe. "Just open the Kami-damned Dead Zone already. You can't hope to win, so why continue to suffer." He raised his right hand, collecting energy in it.

As he kicked Garlic Jr, he unknowingly shattered the bottle containing Kami, freeing the Guardian. Mr. Popo flew in quickly on his magic carpet, grabbing Kami, and getting him out of the way. With Kami safely out of the way Gohan charged an even bigger ball of energy and pointed it at Garlic Jr's face. "Speak, tell me what I want to know, or get a makeover on your face."

"Fuck off..." Garlic Jr replied as he looked up at the massive ball of energy pointed at his face. He spat up green blood as he went on. "You will never see Piccolo again, and when you run out of energy, finally, I will kill you slowly." That was the last thing he said...for the minute anyway as the massive ball of energy consumed his body.

Gohan dropped to one knee after his last attack. Shit! Nothing was working. They were further away than ever from getting Piccolo free. Maybe...yes...Gohan decided to allow his anger to override everything as he got back to his feet. "Where is he?" he yelled, looking at the spot where Garlic Jr had been consumed. "I am going to rip him limb from limb for what he did to Piccolo."

Future Gohan nodded. "Yes, that will be a good method to use to overwhelm his ability to handle pain. Leave his head and torso intact so he can breathe, but his arms and legs are yours to do what you want with. Just remember clean breaks or he will bleed out."

"I don't care about information; I am going to beat him until he dies, and then beat him again, and then again until he stays dead. Let's see him live through a blast capable of wiping out this planet." Gohan began to gather energy into his hands.

_Shit! He's lost it._ Transforming with but a though Future Gohan appeared in front of Gohan. "Sorry buddy, but you're out of control," he said as he struck his past counterpart on the side of his neck knocking him out. He caught Gohan as he spun around to confront Garlic's Jr's reformed energy. After placing Gohan safely out of the way, he landed back in front of Garlic Jr. "So, which limb do you prefer to have ripped off first?"

Garlic Jr responded by launching a massive red energy wave into the face of Future Gohan.

When the smoke cleared, Future Gohan stood there unharmed; his golden aura burning brightly around him. "So, as I asked before, which limb would you prefer to lose first? Or, should I start with an eye? I can tell you from personal experience that losing an eye is very painful," he said tapping his eye patch.

Garlic Jr crossed his hands over his chest. Shit, this wasn't going well at all. He couldn't gather power fast enough because he kept dying. "Even assuming you carry out all of your threats, no amount of pain can cause me to give you that information. I haven't broken yet, and I won't. Give it up."

"Oh, everyone has a breaking point. We just need to find yours," Future Gohan assured him. "And, believe me, I know exactly how to inflict the maximum amount of pain. I have had the best teachers on that subject. If you don't start talking, I will show you what I mean."

"Wait." A weakened Gohan struggled back to his feet, calmer now that he was no longer a Super Saiyan.

Future Gohan glanced over at his past counterpart. "Yes? You have another idea?"

Gohan had a grim smile on his face as he walked over to stand next to Future Gohan. "Yes, I know of a way to kill even an immortal. I had the beginnings of this idea before you knocked me out. If he doesn't fear pain, maybe he will fear death. Painful repeated death."

Future Gohan made mental contact with his counterpart. "Are you sure?" he asked mentally.

"Pretty sure. At least, it should work in theory, based on what I learned from my studies."

"Alright, the ball is in your court then. Sorry for having to knock you out for a few moments, but you left with me no choice."

"It's no problem. I was out of control. I see that now."

The entire mental exchange took almost a minute where Garlic Jr looked at the two of them in confusion.

Future Gohan crossed his arms over his chest. "Go on. Explain to our friend, Mr. Garlic Jr here, what exactly will happen to him if he doesn't tell us how to let Piccolo out of the Dead Zone."

"You will tell us where Piccolo is, and how to get him out," Gohan began.

"Or what?" Garlic Jr challenged him.

"Or we will drop you into the Sun."

"What good would that do? I would just return from that."

But Gohan was shaking his head as Garlic Jr spoke. "No, you wouldn't."

"I am immortal, you can't kill me. Not even the power of a Sun can harm kill me in a way that I can't come back from. I have taken your best energy blasts and come back from it, what could a simple Star do to me?"

"While it is true that the Sun isn't enough to kill you as an immortal, the heat from the sun would burn your body till you died."

"And this is different from your energy blasts how?" Garlic Jr questioned.

"The difference is the gravity. The gravity of the Sun is 28 times that of the Earth. You would be trapped."

"I would just leave when I came back."

"Wrong, the gravity would pull you further and further into the Sun until you reached the core as the Sun would burn you to death over and over again. You would be unable to stay alive long enough to generate the power to attempt an escape. Instead, every couple of seconds, minutes at most, you will be burned alive until you are cinders then you will pull yourself back together only to have the process repeat again."

Future Gohan gave his past self a considering look. He should have thought of that, but he hadn't studied since the arrival of the Androids, and he had forgotten several things, such as this. "So, you have a choice Garlic Jr," he said picking up the thread. "Tell us, or be launched into the Sun."

Garlic Jr couldn't keep the look of sheer horror off his face at the thought of dying over and over again for billions of years. And not just dying, but dying from fire, one of the worst deaths out there. "And, if I open the Dead Zone and tell you about how it works, you won't drop me into the sun?"

Past Gohan nodded. "Yes, that is correct. We will offer you the chance to leave the Earth for good."

Garlic Jr nodded at that. "I want your word of honor."

"You have it. Now talk," Past Gohan told him.

* * *

_A/N: What will he say? It won't be what you expect, I promise you that. Next chapter will go into more detail about several things that were left cloudy in the DBZ universe._

_I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am 3,000 words into Chapter 6 already, but in all likelihood it won't be posted until after the New Year._

* * *

_Reviews:_

_Reign Of Sorrow_

_Alright maggots listen up. Popo's about to teach you the pecking order: there's you, the dirt, the worms in the dirt, Popo's stool, Kami, then Popo. Any questions?_

_xD_

_So two immortals? Oh for fûcks sake can they never get a break?_

_**A: I love DBZA as well! Who doesn't like it, in all seriousness.**_

_**Yes two immortals. As for them getting a break, I looked ahead at my plans, and I don't see any breaks in their future.**_

_Dyton_

_Yeah I mean his eye. I knew it was just one, but I don't know why I made it plural. Oh well._

_I thought Garlic was already immortal, or do you lose that when you go to the deadzone, which by the way is that where Piccolo is?_

_So the great battle begins, and unknowingly the Z are fighting two fronts. I can't wait to see what happens next._

_**A: In this timeline, Garlic Jr wasn't already immortal. But now, he is. Yes, Piccolo is in the Dead Zone as is revealed in this chapter.**_

_**The Z-Fighters have the edge over their foes power wise, but what they don't have is the knowledge of how to deal with immortal foes.**_

_Wheathermangohanssj4 (From Chapter 1)_

_The only problem with the power leveling system is if it did let them do all that Goku would just be stronger if he stayed in base after mastering the super sayain form and using the power multiplyer of the Kaio-ken._

_but kaio-ken is never used again after the super sayain ability is obtained meaning it must be stronger then the highest level of kaio-ken ever reached meaning it must at least mutiply power by at least 20 times I'd accept it being a just better maintainable than a times 10 which Goku could do with no ill effects at the times of the Friza fight meaning Goku is holding back by going super sayian, which I wouldn't hold past goku but I wouldn't expect him to give up if he could go stronger._

_Now the super sayian form not being usable with a kaio-ken makes perfect sense for the same reason, if goku could do it he would of._

_**A: First thank you for your comments, they bring up some interesting points. There are several differences between the Super Saiyan from and the Kaio-ken that make the Super Saiyan form more useful than the Kaio-ken. Not all fights are won purely through having a higher power level. Ability to stay in the fight matters a ton. Kaio-ken hinders that ability over the long run. Now to the reasons.**_

_** Kaio-ken takes a massive toll on the body, and this toll increases the more power the user tries to boost. In longer fights this toll starts to wear on the user. This is not true of the Super Saiyan form, while it drains stamina, using the Super Saiyan form does not cause physical damage to the body if used too often/long. Once the Super Saiyan form is fully mastered, it takes no energy or stamina to transform and stay that way, reducing the toll on the body to zero. Goku and Gohan prove this in the time between their visit to the HTC and the Cell Games, where they remain in the FPSSJ form even while asleep. They could live the rest of their lives as Super Saiyans and it wouldn't bother them in any way.**_

_** have only seen the very first Super Saiyan transformation, this isn't the mastered/full powered version, but the version that Goku unlocked on Namek. 73,500,000 * 20 = 1,470,000,000. I am not going to fully spoil any future power levels (if you want exact numbers you need to PM me), but that is far weaker than an SSJ2, which requires mastery of the Full Power Super Saiyan form to unlock. A Saiyan with advanced knowledge of the Kaio-ken could go the route you suggested, but they would be limiting themselves in the long run. They would never beat Cell for example.**_

_** way my system works is based off of limits, so if a Saiyan went that route, they would be stuck at 1.47 billion as a hard limit of power.**_

_**4.I have pretty much my entire system worked out, up through the Super Saiyan Four form, assuming that I choose to ever include that in any of my stories, so I know where I am going with this.**_

* * *

_Power Levels_

_Cooler Suppressed: 60,000,000_

_Cooler: 80,000,000_

_Cooler 5th Form: 160,000,000_

_Goku: 43,000,000_

_Goku SSJ Suppressed: 165,000,000_

_Goku SSJ Full Power: 190,000,000_

_Vegeta: 45,000,000_

_Vegeta SSJ Suppressed: 161,000,000_

_Vegeta SSJ Full Power: 192,000,000_

_Gohan: 20,000,000_

_Gohan SSJ Suppressed: 150,000,000_

_Gohan SSJ Full Power: 167,000,000_

_Future Gohan: 73,000,000_

_Future Gohan SSJ Suppressed: 175,000,000_

_Future Gohan SSJ Full Power: 220,000,000_

_Future Trunks:41,000,000_

_Future Trunks SSJ Suppressed: 155,000,000_

_Future Trunks SSJ Full Power: 188,000,000_

_Piccolo: 50,000,000_

_Kami: 400_

_Mr. Popo: ?_

_Garlic Jr Suppressed:1,500,000_

_Garlic Jr Full Power: 3,000,000_

_Garlic Jr + Makyo Star: 10,000,000_

_Super Garlic Jr Suppressed: 21,000,000_

_Super Garlic Jr Full Power: 45,000,000_

_Super Garlic Jr + Makyo Star: 70,000,000_

_Tien: 1,400,000_

_Krillin: 1,250,000_

_Yamcha: 1,000,000_


	6. Chapter 6-History Lessons

**DI**

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 6- History Lessons**

* * *

_Disclaimer: I own nothing related to dragonball, dragonball z or dragonball gt. This story is written for personal enjoyment and not for profit. I only lay claim to my original ideas and plot lines, as well as my power level system._

* * *

"_**If you once again try to harm me or one of my companions, my patience with you will expire."**_

* * *

_Kami's Lookout_

"My father liked everyone to believe that he created the Dead Zone, but it existed long before he was alive. It was created 50,000 years ago when my race was doing research on other dimensions. Our first home world was dying, and we were running out of options. One of our researchers hit on the idea of borrowing what we needed from other dimensions. While some saw salvation in the Dead Zone, others saw a weapon. My great-great-great grandfather was one of those that saw it as a weapon and learned how to bend the Dead Zone to his will. With that, he conquered our planet before expanding outward. Since then, my family has ruled our newest home world. About 20,000 years ago, we noticed that our planet was beginning to drift out of its orbit. So, using the combined power of everyone on the entire planet, we fused the planet with our star, renaming it the Makyo Star. Now, our planet drifts freely through space, approaching Earth's orbit every 10,000 years or so," Garlic Jr explained to the two Gohans.

"Get to the point, Garlic Jr," Mirai Gohan growled at him. "We don't care about the history of your entire race. Open the Dead Zone, or we will drop you into the Sun."

"I can't yet. I have to gather up power to do so and repeatedly coming back from the dead has drained me of a lot of my ki." It was true that while he had been explaining things to him that Garlic Jr had been gathering up power. His body lit with a faint red aura that kept getting brighter as the minutes passed. "Opening up the Dead Zone by yourself takes a lot of out a person. It was meant to be opened in groups not alone. Only the members of the Royal family ever possessed the power needed to open it alone. If I open it before I have the needed power gathered, it will fail, and the blow back will kill me. I am not worried about the death part, but doing it before I am ready will just delay you getting your friend back."

Gohan stood with his arms crossed across his chest, his posture mimicking that of his future counterpart. "Well, hurry up. I want to save Piccolo."

"He will be fine...physically at least. He can't die while in the Dead Zone. My father made one major change to the Dead Zone. He made it so that those trapped in the Dead Zone can't die. They never age; they never need to eat or sleep; they just exist in the void of nothingness. That was his idea. The ultimate weapon of fear, the perfect way to punish those that went against him."

"So, Piccolo is safe?" Gohan questioned him with a scowl on his face. He didn't like the idea of Piccolo being stuck there any longer then he had to be.

"Yes, although he might have gone crazy by now. Time passes differently in the dimension of the Dead Zone." In the blink of an eye, Garlic Jr powered down, returning to his base form.

"What? Why did you just do that?" Mirai Gohan questioned him, distrust on clear on his face. "I warn you. If you try anything funny, you will discover a new meaning to the word pain."

"It is easier to charge energy this way," Garlic Jr responded his face calm. He hated doing this, but he knew when he was outmatched. Never in a million years did he think that his foes would offer him a chance to leave and regroup. What a bunch of fools. As an immortal, he could put his body through the toughest of training sessions, and he would grow more powerful than these fools. When he did, he would be back to get his revenge. He never forgot those that wronged him. "Anyway, time in the Dead Zone passes differently. For every minute that passes here, a day passes there. My father would drop someone in the Dead Zone for a day of our time, and by the time he let them out, they were willing to do anything he told them to do. Anything to never have to go back to that nothingness."

A white aura sprung up around Gohan as he thought about the torture that Piccolo must be going through in the Dead Zone. _Had Piccolo already given up hope of being rescued?_ He started to draw in more power when he heard a voice in his mind.

"Gohan, stop! We still need him. You can't hurt him or interrupt his gathering of his energy."

Gohan let his energy die back down. "Fine," he responded mentally to Future Gohan.

The aura around Garlic Jr expanded rapidly, causing both Saiyans to turn their attention back to him.

"I am ready," he confirmed to them. "Ready to open the Dead Zone."

* * *

_Ruins of the forest_

_This was insanely frustrating. Here he was, the last living member of the royal family of the most powerful species in existence, and he was being manhandled by a Prince of a dead race of monkeys. Even with his fifth form, a form that hadn't been seen in 1,000's of years, he was nothing to these Super Saiyans. A legend that he had teased his little brother about, given him nightmares about was coming back to bite him in the ass._ Cooler had been convinced that his days being in the shadows would end with the discovery and mastery of this old form, a battle form. Purple blood ran down his clinched fists. "I don't understand. Your power is all of the sudden off the charts. How could you have been hiding that much power? You don't have power restricting forms like my species does."

Vegeta gave Cooler a wide smile in response to those questions. "The Earthlings have long had the ability to raise and lower their power at will. It is a quite useful trick admittedly. And now, are you ready to join your family in Hell, Cooler?"

"Wait, Vegeta," Goku said.

Vegeta glanced over at his rival._ Surely, this wasn't going to be a plea for mercy. Not even Kakarot was foolish enough to make the same mistake twice._ "What is it, Kakarot? I have other things planned for today."

"I want to know how he did it."

"Why does it matter? In the end, he was weak, just like the rest of his family."

"Think about what his being immortal means, Vegeta," Goku implored the other Saiyan.

"It means, I get to kill him repeatedly in increasingly painful ways," Vegeta responded.

"Only two sets of dragon balls are known to exist, Vegeta: here and on New Namek. We know that he didn't use Earth's dragon balls to become immortal. That means that he must have visited New Namek. But, they would never have willingly given him the password to use the dragon balls."

"So, you want to hear about how he tortured the Namekians?" Vegeta questioned him. "Again, why does it matter?"

"It matters because I want to know what happened to my friends."

Krillin slapped himself on the forehead, drawing everyone's attention his way. "Why didn't I think of this sooner," he muttered to himself.

"You have something to contribute to this waste of my time, baldy?" Vegeta questioned him.

Krillin ignored Vegeta's comments, addressing his next words to Goku. "Goku, the wish to become immortal would have only used one of the three wishes the Namekian dragon can grant. We know the dragon has to be alive or the wish couldn't have been granted."

"Also, because King Kai didn't contact us about Cooler when he visited New Namek, and he would have if they had been in danger," Tien broke in.

Goku shot both of them a questioning look. "What is your idea, Krillin?" he asked his best friend. Goku wasn't sure what Krillin was thinking, but he had been around Krillin long enough to know that he always had a plan of some sort.

"You can use your Instant Transmission to travel to New Namek and make your own wish to become immortal. Then, the Androids would be no problem," Krillin said with a sly grin on his face.

Vegeta spat in the dirt at that thought. "You don't understand Saiyan pride, midget. Kakarot might be a clown, but he shares my pride. We are Super Saiyans, things like immortally are trivial to us."

To Krillin's surprise, Goku nodded his head at that. "It was a good idea, Krillin, but I will decline. The risk of death in combat is one of the things the pushes me to improve and become a better fighter. Remove that risk, and combat ceases to be fun."

"Damn it Goku, we are fighting for everything! You can't let your pride get in the way," Krillin scolded his friend.

"This is the right way to do it, Krillin. If I made that wish, than everyone would become totally dependent on me to always save the day. There are other equally skilled and equally strong fighters on this planet, and it shouldn't rest all on my shoulders."

Krillin sighed. "I was afraid you would say that."

"Now, that we have that foolishness out of the way can we get back to how we kill Cooler for good?" Vegeta questioned them.

Goku started to respond, but instead, he flipped backwards as a massive purple death beam shot past the spot he had just been standing in. They had forgotten to keep their eye on Cooler!

The Death Beam continued on headed right for Tien's turned back. The 3 eyed human turned to raise his guard, but everyone watching could tell that it wouldn't be in time.

Aided by the Kaio-ken and moving quicker than he ever had in his life, Yamcha jumped in front of the Death Beam. Got to risk it, he told himself as the Death Beam rapidly bore down on him. "Kaio-ken times 30!" he yelled out as he put his hands out to try and deflect the Death Beam.

At the very last moment, the Death Beam changed course, dipping below Yamcha's guard and striking him right in the chest. Yamcha fell as if he was a puppet who's strings had just been cut.

"Yamcha!" several voices called out at once. Krillin and Tien rushed to his side.

Goku had a different reaction. Body shaking from rage his hair stood up and his eyes shifted to teal. Exploding forward, he punched Cooler right in the face and sent the ice-jin flying through the remains of the forest. Goku followed him to his landing spot over a mile away. That punch would have taken Cooler's head off if not for the fact that he was immortal. As it was, it shattered all of the armor on Cooler's face. "That was a cheap shot," he yelled at Cooler. Goku placed his foot on Coolers chest pinning him to the forest floor. "If you once again try to harm me or one of my companions, my patience with you will expire."

"I don't understand why you have stopped Vegeta from trying to finish me off," Cooler stated as he looked up at Goku from his cracked face plate.

"You didn't kill the Namekians. I know that in my heart. I want to know why. Maybe that means you aren't as evil as your brother and your father."

"Fool," Cooler spat. "I am every bit as evil as they are."

Goku pressed his foot down, causing Cooler to cry out in pain. "But I am right aren't I? You didn't kill them."

"I did not kill them. Not a single one of them," Cooler admitted.

"You didn't have to do that Yamcha," Tien scolded his friend as he knelt down beside him.

"Couldn't let you...die...before...I," Yamcha began to respond as he coughed up blood all over Tien.

"Before you what?" Tien asked him. "Just hold Yamcha on. We are going to get you help." It didn't look good for Yamcha though Tien knew. He had a massive hole from the Death Beam in his chest.

Moments ago, Krillin had taken off to go get Senzu beans.

"Before...I beat you..." Yamcha coughed up even more blood.

"Save your strength," Tien urged him. He wondered if they should have flown Yamcha directly to the Senzu beans. But, Yamcha didn't look like he was in any condition to be moved currently.

"How did you do it then? How did you convince them to give you a wish?" Goku pressed Cooler

"It's a bit of a long story," Cooler said with a bit of a pained chuckle at the memory. Events had transpired that he had been easily able to manipulate to his favor. Not everything needed to be done through brute force; a lesson his dead brother had never learned. Which lead to his demise.

Goku pressed his foot down harder. "I suggest you start explaining then. I am not going to wait all day."

"Kakarot, what the hell are you doing? Finish him already," Vegeta yelled out from behind him. "He is too deadly to play games with."

Vegeta had followed Goku, and trailing behind him was Trunks.

"Not yet, Vegeta. I want to hear his story."

"And after that, Goku?" Trunks questioned him.

"If he promises to never come back, I will take him to another planet and drop him off there,"

Vegeta landed right next to Goku. "Kakarot, have you lost your fucking mind? You are going to let one of the foulest creatures in the entire universe live? He made us! He made Saiyans into the killing machines that were."

"No, you were already were when we found you. We just gave you technology in exchange for doing what came naturally do you," Cooler asserted.

"Fuck off," Vegeta responded.

"Both of you, stop bickering! I want to hear your story Cooler," Goku commanded. "Or I will turn you over to Vegeta and let him decide what to do with you."

"Very well if it gets me away from you people, I will tell you." Cooler responded. He had no intention of running or leaving when he was offered the chance by Goku. He just needed time to gather more energy, and this story would give him the perfect chance. "I never intended to save the Namekians. When I got there the planet was already under attack..." he began.

* * *

Garlic Jr thrust his hands out wide to each side, before pushing his palms forward. Darkness rolled off of his finger tips as a hole in the fabric of reality began to form. As the hole grew larger wind began to attempt to suck everyone in.

"Turn that part off!" Mirai Gohan yelled as he braced himself against the winds trying to pull him towards the Death Zone.

"I can't," Garlic Jr responded as he stood there, opening the Dead Zone up to its full length. He appeared to be totally unaffected by the winds streaming from the Dead Zone. "It is part of the package of opening the Dead Zone."

"Now what?" Gohan asked.

"Now raise your energy to draw Piccolo out of the Dead Zone. He needs to lock onto your energy, so he knows which direction to head," Garlic Jr explained.

Gohan nodded at that, increasing his energy enough to send a clear signal of his location.

Minutes passed as they waited for Piccolo to emerge from the Dead Zone.

"I thought all of the Dead Zone is one spot?" Mirai Gohan questioned Garlic Jr. "He should be out by now."

"The Dead Zone is endless, but it is possible to cross it all in a single stride," Garlic Jr replied. Which really explained nothing, but was the best answer that he could think of. It just was how it was.

"If you don't return Piccolo to us, we have no reason to let you live," Mirai Gohan warned him.

"I upheld my part of the bargain. I can't make Piccolo come out. It is possible he has retreated so far into his mind that he doesn't notice the opening," Garlic Jr explained. "Sometimes a person subjected to the Dead Zone snaps and goes insane."

Mirai Gohan took a few steps forward; his hand raised and an energy blast already building on it. "That is not an acceptable answer. You put him in there, now get him out."

"Wait." Three eyes turned towards Gohan. "I can't sense Piccolo's energy at all in there. I should be able to. If he can't die, he has to be in there."

"Unless he ..._escaped_," Mirai Gohan could hardly dare to hope that, but what other reason could they not sense his energy? Unless Garlic Jr was lying about the safety of the Dead Zone, but he had no reason to lie because he believed that he was going to be allowed to leave.

"It is possible," Garlic Jr said with a nod. "I was able to do it. If Piccolo could generate enough power and he could figure out how to travel between dimensions, then he could have made his escape."

"But there where is he? Why hasn't he made his way back here?" Gohan questioned.

* * *

Krillin crash landed with the bag of Senzu beans. With the last of his energy, he tossed them to Tien.

Tien caught them, activating the Kaio-ken as he scanned the skies for whoever had attacked his friend. Nothing. "What happened, Krillin?" he questioned as he knelt by his friend. He took a Senzu bean from the bag and placed it in Krillin's mouth, watching as the short monk chewed it. Then spinning around quickly, he forced one into Yamcha's mouth. "Come on buddy, chew it...that's it."

"I used the Kaio-ken times twenty five the entire way there, and the entire way back," Krillin responded as he felt his energy get restored.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Tien questioned him with a harsh look. "Putting that kind of strain on your body could have killed you, and then where would that have left Yamcha?"

"Had to do it, couldn't fail Yamcha. I wasn't going to watch him die, not again."

"Well I am glad you did..." a weak voice said behind them. They spun around to see Yamcha rising unsteadily to his feet. The hole in his chest was mostly healed. "I thought it was all over when I blocked that Death Beam."

Tien and Krillin moved to support Yamcha as he stood up.

"I didn't know that you blocked it," Krillin teased him. "It was more like you just got in the way. Normally, blocking an attack doesn't lead to you almost dying."

"I learned to block attacks from Piccolo," Yamcha shot back weakly, leaning into the support of his friends. While the Senzu bean had healed most of the damage, it hadn't totally restored him. And it was too risky to take another Senzu bean so soon after the first one. He was going have to heal the natural way for now.

* * *

_Dead Zone: Sometime Earlier_

_Garlic Jr had escaped from the inside of the Dead Zone._ Piccolo clung to that thought as he explored ways to escape himself. _Not only had he escaped, but he gained the ability to appear out of literally nowhere. Piccolo hadn't felt his energy on the planet until he was already right behind with the Dead Zone opened. This wasn't unlike Goku's instant transmission, Piccolo reflected. Only that required a ki to lock onto._ Piccolo couldn't sense anything of the outside world while he was in here.

_If he couldn't sense anything, then Garlic Jr couldn't have either while he was in here. So, how exactly was he appearing out of nowhere? Unless...it wasn't possible to sense the energy of someone inside the Dead Zone either. That would explain why no had come to retrieve him despite months passing. They might be convinced he was dead since they couldn't sense his energy. That must be tearing Gohan up inside, Piccolo knew. The boy had nightmares about failing him, and now he had to believe that he was dead._

_Getting his thoughts back on track, Piccolo considered the implications of being able to strike from nowhere combined with the fact that it wasn't possible to sense energy while being inside of this dark place. _ The past several months, Piccolo had spent day after day focusing on how to reach out to a place outside of the Dead Zone. _But now, he understood that he was going about it all wrong. He had the power, he just needed the method. He had been treating escaping like Goku used his instant transmission that he needed a ki signal to lock on to. _

_It was much simpler than that. He just needed to use his power to create a tunnel to wherever he wanted to go. No not a tunnel, more like a doorway. The Dead Zone wasn't meant to hold enemies of his power. Like everything else, it was limited by the power of its creator._

Returning to his feet, Piccolo held out his hands, gathering up power. A white aura, unseeable in the total darkness sprung up around him as he slowly raised his ki. A doorway sprung up in front of him, showing light from beyond the Dead Zone limits.

_Well here goes nothing. Anywhere was better than here._ Keeping his mind focused on maintaining the doorway, Piccolo stepped through out into the light.

* * *

"Events played right into my hands," Cooler finished explaining to Vegeta and Goku several minutes later. "Simply by saving the Namekians from one of their own, they granted me a wish." Just like events were currently playing into his hands right now. These fools were allowing him to gather energy to attempt something that hadn't been attempted before.

"I don't understand," Goku responded. "Why would one of the Namekians turn on the others? After Frieza almost wiped them totally out."

"Of course you don't, clown," Vegeta commented. "It is quite clear what happened. Every race has some evil including the Namekians. One decided he would be better off conquering the planet for his own uses, and Cooler stopped him from slaughtering the other Namekians, who he needed alive so he could make his wish."

Cooler nodded at that. "Vegeta has the right idea, but that's not quite what he did." Normally Cooler couldn't be bothered to explain things in this much detail especially not to those that would be dead soon. But as it happened, he needed just a bit more time. "From what I gathered after I killed the so called Lord Slug, he had tried to take over the planet once before, and had been defeated and kicked off the planet, exiled and never allowed to return. By not killing him, they left open the possibility that he would return with an army at his back. He was there to get some wishes of his own, the fool even offered to split the wishes with me. As if I would work with a weakling like himself." Finally! He had the energy required to attempt his next transformation. The moment he unlocked the fifth form, Cooler could sense that something more existed, but it wasn't until today that he had been able to push his body enough to attempt to progress beyond the fifth form.

Goku nodded at this more complete version of events. It made more sense to him now. There was always someone who wasn't happy with their lot in life and thought that they could improve it through the conquest of others. Well not while he was around to stop people like that. "Very well, as I promised I will take you to a planet with a spaceport. A planet that I visited in my travels in space. They will be happy to put you in contact with your people. They are a neutral planet assisting all that visit equally."

"I will have to decline your offer."

"But you're over matched. What good is fighting us when you can't win going to do you? You will just keep dying over and over again. Sooner or later we will figure out a way to make it for good," Goku pointed out.

Cooler started to laugh. "That is where you are wrong. The little extended story I told you; it had another purpose."

"Damn it, Kakarot! I told you he couldn't be trusted," Vegeta yelled as he powered back up again. Using his super speed, he appeared in front of Cooler, hands extended with an energy blast charging between them.

"It's too late! Fools! You gave me all of the time I needed," Cooler gloated as his energy rocketed skyward. Waves of ki began to radiate off of his body.

Vegeta fired the partly charged energy blast at Cooler, only to see it pass right through the spot where Cooler had stood moments before.

Goku charged in but was blown several steps backwards by the output of energy from Cooler. What was this power? He had never felt anything so terrifying in his entire life. He could feel his blood pumping from the excitement of fighting such a threat head on.

Vegeta and Goku took to the air for safety as the land around them shook and crumbled from the ever growing power in front of them.

Meanwhile, Cooler's body was changing as his energy continued to climb. He was growing larger with spikes appeared from his forearms, elbows, knees and up and down the entire length of his tail. His horns extended, growing to appear as they did in his second form, only they were curved. When he finished his transformation with a final blast of power, he stood a foot taller, standing over eight foot tall.

"Now who wants to die first?" he questioned in a much harsher voice. Gone was any trace of sensibility from his voice, replaced by the sound of pure death.

* * *

_A/N: So glad to have my laptop back up and running! I wrote most of this chapter in small bits and pieces so if parts of the writing seems disjointed at times, that is why. As usual the chapter turns out as well as it does because of the wonderful effort of my beta reader. Chapter Seven should be ready in the next couple of weeks, but I am talking five classes this semester, so I will be writing in between all of the computer homework I am doing._

_Also I should note that the story now has it's own cover art, thanks to my very special beta reader, who is also a talented artist. _

_Cooler is currently in his ascended fifth form. Think ascended Super Saiyan, it works much the same way. He never showed this form in the movies because he wasn't immortal and able to charge energy to be able to attempt to ascend. _

_In this chapter I attempted to fill in some of the unstated things in DBZ, like how the Dead Zone works. Also Piccolo mentioned in important point, that being that everything is only as strong as the power of its creator. This is a sub theme for this story, and throughout the story I will be explaining my theory on the dragonballs and the limits of their powers. _

_As a bit of a teaser for upcoming chapters and sagas I will tell you this much: The Namekians didn't create the dragonballs themselves, they were taught how to by an elder race, a race that has long since passed on in the universe. A set of dragonballs created by this elder race, would be several times more powerful then any currently existing set of dragonballs. Also Buu was created by this same elder race. They are responsible for magic as it currently is in the Dragonball Universe. This elder race will play a role in the Buu Saga, as an OC of the elder race will appear. This race was around at the same time as the Kai's before the Kai's ascended to godhood. What happened to them? That will be explained in later chapters and sagas. _

_Let me know if I should provide more teasers to upcoming events going forward in my A/Ns._

_Onward to the reviews!_

* * *

_Reviews_

_jdboss1_

_cool Gohan using his brain._

**Yes, something he didn't do enough of in DBZ.**

_Reign Of Sorrow_

_Mr. Popo gets a ? for power because he is secretly the most powerful being in the universes. Shh, he's Almighty. Nobody can match the Popo._

**No, it's because...I mean yes of course that is the reason. *Looks over his shoulder to make sure Popo isn't around***

_Lawrence Helmbain_

_Good chapter and awesome story xD... few ideas tho... Have Piccolo channel his Chi throughout his body making it bulk up like ASsj1 and USsj1... while at the same time using his stretching ability to make it so he doesn't lose speed...you can call it Ascended Super Namikean and Ultra Super Namikean forms... then once he masters them to the point that they don't put a strain on his body have him use Kaioken as the ASN and USN strengthens the body... not bring out more power... so_ _combining these two will give Piccolo his very own makeshift transformation... oh and as for the damage it does to the body just have his regeneration in affect at the same time... of course he would have to train this ability..._

Another idea is have the 2 Gohans fuse during the Buu Saga... idk why no ones done that...

**That is a cool idea with Piccolo. I already have plans for his power up down the road though. I always wondered what the point of the giant form was if it didn't increase power like the Saiyan's got when they became giant apes. I might have to do something about that.**

**Another cool idea with the Gohans. This one I might consider.**

_ExplodingQuasar_

_I love it!  
But...why have goten so early in the story? And how did Cooler Know where earth is?  
Just some Questions. By the way, is the medicine being grape-flavored a team four star reference? Either way, it left me laughing and gasping for breath. #:-)_

**Thank you!**

**I wanted to have Goten and Trunks be the same age in my story. There isn't a good reason in my eyes that Chi-Chi and Goku should have waited so long to have another kid.**

**Cooler knew where Earth was the same way that Frieza and King Cold found Earth. Through the database that the Planetary Trade Organization maintains.**

**No worries about the questions. Ask as many as you want and I will answer them to the best of my ability unless it spoils upcoming plot.**

**Yes, the medicine being grape-flavored is a team four star reference. I love their work.**

_Ky111_

_Another great story and I like how your making other aspects to fighting as being important rather than just brute force/power, speed, agility, technique and strategy are all just as important if not more so._

I also like your power boost theory for the transformations rather than the multiplier theory, it makes much more sense and seems more realistic to me, as well as having physical limitations which as you pointed out without there would be no need for the transformations (although I also believe that perhaps once they reach the next level it could increase the previous limitations of the previous levels and base form).

Lets see how they deal with these immortals (it's good practice as the Androids while not immortal basically don't age and they don't tire).

I'm also very interested in present Gohan's continued development and if he can ever get over his doubt and fully control/embrace his anger to use it to it's full potential but not let it control him and fog up his mind and decisions, part of his doubt I believe (in the series at least) is due to Gohan never believing that he could ever surpass his father which always held him back from ever fully trying (Vegeta and Piccolo I believe when he was younger he use to think this about as well but he moved beyond it as he got older but didn't when it came to his father).

I also like how you have the Human fighters while admitting they can't keep up power wise are still striving to improve everything about their fighting styles and techniques in every other way.

Later.

**I combined the two reviews after I confirmed that they were from the same person.**

**Fighting is an all around discipline, it's not only about raw power. The martial arts is as much mental as it is physical and I want my stories and fight scenes to reflect that.**

**I believe the limits are also more realistic, which is why I created a system around them. Once they reach the next level it removes the limits from training in base form, though the boosts are either fixed or between a range that increases with further training in the given form. Each stronger form makes the older ones outdated, so there is no reason to revisit them. An example from the show: Once they master the Full Power Super Saiyan form, they never use lower forms like the Ascended Super Saiyan form. Each time they are seen as Super Saiyans after that, they are known to be in their Full Power Super Saiyan forms without needing to state that fact.**

**You will see the fate of the immortals soon enough. You raise a good point when you say it is good practice for the Androids. I didn't think of it in those terms when I plotted this arc out, but it is another good way to look at it.**

**I agree partly on the reasons for Gohan holding himself back. When fighting Cell in the show, he didn't want to believe that he was capable of beating him when his father wasn't. The reasons for Gohan's struggles to use all of his power will be explored in greater detail as the story unfolds.**

**The Humans can't keep up in raw power, but they can keep pace other ways. They play an important part in this story, one that will be explored in greater detail after this saga is finished.**

_Dyton_

_That's brilliant. I kept thinking that the Dead Zone is the only way to take care of immortals, but the center of the Sun is a simple and effective solution. (The other problem with the Dead Zone is that they had no way of knowing how to open it)_

I think the dynamic and differences between Past and Future Gohan really makes this one of my favorite stories. For a long time we are bombarded by other stories with the so called 'no killing rules' and preaching of everyone deserves a second chance, but this Future Gohan has no problem putting a permanent end to a menace, and the younger one, having the Future's memories, is suffering the guilt and mental shock from the future at once, but you can still see pieces of his former innocence still surfacing. It's twisted yet intriguing.

I guess we know how to take care of Cooler when Garlic teaches them how to open the Dead Zone. I can't wait for the next chapter. Keep it up.

**I am glad you like my ideas for other ways to deal with an immortal. I doubt they would open the Dead Zone even if they knew how. Most of the Z-Fighters would consider that to be borderline evil. Gohan only threatened to drop Garlic Jr into the Sun because this deals with Piccolo, and he is already tormented by dreams about losing him. Also, he is trying to embrace the mantra of his future self: Whatever it takes.**

**Written properly, Future Gohan should have no problem killing to solve his problems, especially for a good reason. He has lived through hell for all of his teenage and adult years. When you live in a war zone, morals are one of the first things that get thrown out the window. Past Gohan is struggling against the memories of his impending failure. He is attempting to go strong enough to change the Future and the fate of his friends while still struggling to hold on to who he is. He is finding that doing both at once is impossible. That doesn't mean that he will become a clone of his future self though.**

**Well, the Gohans saw how the Dead Zone is opened now. You will have to stay tuned to see if either of them will attempt to use it to get rid of Cooler.**

* * *

_Power Levels  
Cooler Ascended Fifth Form Suppressed: 225,000,000_

_Enraged SSJ Goku: 195,000,000_

_Krillin Kaio-ken Times Twenty Five: 31,250,000_

_Krillin Burned Out: 300_

_Tien Kaio-ken Times Four: 5,600,000_

_Yamcha Pre Senzu Bean: 10_

_Yamcha Post Senzu Bean: 1,500_

_Vegeta SSJ: 192,000,000_

_Garlic Jr: 2,000,000_

_Piccolo: 55,000,000_


	7. Chapter 7-Coolers Rage

**DI **

**Android Saga**

**Ch 7- Coolers Rage**

* * *

_Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. If I did, I would have added some of the movie plots into the regular story. Cooler should have been a regular bad guy, not a movie bad guy._

* * *

_A/N: Thanks again to my wonderful beta reader for all of her help with this chapter. She helps keep me on track and listens to my sometimes insane ideas before I write them down in the story._

* * *

_**"I confer with Death itself. What could you possibly do to injure me?"**_

* * *

_Kami's Lookout_

"Close the Dead Zone," Future Gohan ordered as a spike of power caught his attention.

Both Gohans shifted their focus away from Garlic Jr for just a moment as they felt Cooler complete his power up. Gohan took a few steps towards the edge of the lookout, before looking back at his future counterpart.

"Go. Rejoin the battle against Cooler," Future Gohan bade his past counterpart. "I will see that Garlic Jr gets the reward that he deserves." As Gohan got ready to fly off, Future Gohan spoke again. "Also Gohan remember what you are fighting for. Cooler threatens your friends, your dad, and this entire planet."

Gohan clinched his fists together feeling the anger surging through him once again. With the anger flowing freely through his veins the young boy found it easy to transform. _No one was going to hurt his family while he was around to stop it. They would beat Cooler, and then they would kill the Androids._ Now transformed, he flew off to aid his friends and family.

Future Gohan looked back at Garlic Jr. "Now to give you what you deserve."

Seeing the look on his face Garlic Jr took several steps backwards. "What does that mean? I did exactly what you asked."

Future Gohan nodded. "Correct, and now you no longer are of any use to me."

"But you promised to let me go if I opened the Dead Zone for you," Garlic Jr protested.

Future Gohan gave him a slight smile as he spoke. "No, he promised that. I promised no such thing." Raising his hand he revealed a partly charged energy blast. "Even if I had, I wouldn't honor it. Their is only one way to deal with scum like you. And that is wiping you off the face off this planet."

"Go ahead, you can't kill me, I am immortal. Sooner or later you will run out of energy."

Future Gohan braked out a harsh laugh out at that. "Please any of the humans could kill you. The only reason your still here is because that stupid wish." He transformed as he spoke. "But that won't save you from the gravity of the Sun." Vanishing he appeared in front of Garlic Jr, blasting him in the face with the charged ki attack. The ball of energy blew through Garlic Jr's chest, causing the demon to fall to the ground. Grabbing his body, Gohan created an energy shield around them, capable of holding the oxygen in, before launching himself into the sky. If all went well, he could cover most of the distance to the Sun before Garlic Jr fully reformed.

As he approached the Sun, Gohan weaved another energy shield, this one for his eyes so that he wouldn't go blind by looking directly at it. Maintaining two different energy shields at once taxed his powers slightly as he had never done it before._ Still they should be close enough now._ As Garlic Jr struggled in his arms, he threw the demon at the Sun. Best to make sure. "Kamehameha!," he shouted out, firing an energy beam that pushed Garlic Jr into the Sun. For many long minutes Gohan waited for Garlic Jr to emerge, for some sign that their plan had failed. Seeing no sign of Garlic Jr, he turned to fly back to Earth.

* * *

Trunks, Tien and Krillin landed nearby as Cooler finished his transformation. They had been drawn by the increase in power.

"He's...he's a monster..." Krillin stated.

"Maybe so, but he's not unbeatable. We have three Super Saiyans confronting him, plus our own powers which have grown a lot," Tien reassured him.

Trunks had also transformed again mid-flight. "We have four Super Saiyans. Gohan is on his way here." Seeing the look on their faces he clarified. "Your Gohan."

Vegeta and Goku exchanged looks. "We are going to have work together to defeat him," Goku told his rival.

"Nonsense Kakarot. I can beat him alone. I don't need your help or anyone's help," Vegeta told him.

"Damn it Vegeta, he is too powerful for us to fight alone," Goku told him. "But together we can beat him no problem."

"Are you done figuring out if you want to die one at a time or all together yet?" Cooler questioned them. "I am eager to test my new strength out."

Vegeta flared his aura charged at him. "Shut your face you freak. No amount of changing forms is going to give you the power to match that of a Super Saiyan." Yet despite his bold words, Vegeta found himself unable to to land a single blow, as Cooler easily blocked his attacks. At least until Goku attacked from the other side forcing Cooler to shift his guard and opening up the way for some of Vegeta's attacks to land. He sent Cooler spinning away with a double ax handle before turning to confront Goku. "I told you Kakarot, I don't want your help. I will live or die by my own strength."

"If it was just a fight for your pride, I would let you fight alone. But its not, we are fighting for the fate of the entire planet," Goku retorted.

Vegeta started to respond, but both Saiyans turned around as the ground near them shook with the force of Cooler's power.

Splitting up, they flew in different directions as a large energy blast flew through the space that they had been standing. The massive purple energy flew onward until it made impact with a nearby town, obliterating Carrot Town in an massive explosion.

Cooler stood smirking at the way that the Saiyans took to the air at the slightest output of his power. _This was going to be fun._ He strode forward, his eyes fixing on the two Human warriors. Best to get the trash out of the way while he was still warming up. He lifted his right hand up ring finger extended outward. "Die," he said as he pointed at Krillin. A single beam shot out of his finger, flying straight at Krillin.

"Kaio-ken times thirty!" Krillin yelled out as a dark red aura appeared around him. Using his enhanced speed he easily avoided the beam.

Cooler shot Death Beam after Death Beam at the Humans laughing as he did so and, forcing them to use the Kaio-ken to dodge the barrage. Sensing movement he turned, lashing out with his spiked tail, and smacking Goku right in the face.

Finding his momentum fully stopped by the smack of Cooler's tail, Goku found himself flying backwards, only to crash into the ruins of Carrot Town. Bouncing back he wiped the blood away from his eyes._ No time now to worry about the pain. He had to get back into the fight and help his friends._

Trunks was engaging Cooler, with no luck on his part. The monster easily dodged or blocked all of his attacks.

"You're even weaker than the others," Cooler spat as he kicked Trunks away, following up with an energy blast that consumed the young future warrior completely.

When the smoke cleared, Trunks was out for the count, laying in a new crater. Cooler laughed as he raised his hand palm upward above his head. Energy gathered floating above his palm. "Did someone call for a monkey removal service?" Without even breaking the flow of energy that he was gathering, Cooler blocked the attacks from Vegeta with his free arm. "You just don't get it Vegeta. Even when I first transformed, you were outmatched. Now that I am using a larger portion of my power you are like a bug to me." As he said that, he allowed a punch from Vegeta to land harmlessly on his side, grabbing the Saiyan Prince by the neck. "Now how should I kill you? Oh I know, I will allow you to watch your son die first."

"We need to do something," Tien remarked to Krillin as they watched the battle from the air. "If they fall, we are next, and if we fall, the entire planet is doomed."

"What can we do against a power like that?" Krillin asked his friend.

"Alone? Nothing. But together maybe, just maybe. We will have to put everything we have into it though. We are only going to get one chance."

"What if we combined our techniques like we practiced?" Krillin suggested.

"We have never tested them together in combat," Tien pointed out.

"We have no choice, we have to try."

"Right let's do it," Tien said as he he linked his hands in front of his face. "Kaio-ken times thirty five!," he yelled out. Right away his muscles bulged outward as sweat poured down his face from the strain of using the Kaio-ken at this high of a rate. A reddish-white aura sprung up around him as he began to charge up his Tri-Beam. "Hurry Krillin, I can't maintain this level forever."

Krillin put his hands to his side as he began to charge the Kamehameha. Once it was ready to go he nodded over at Tien before he activated his own Kaio-ken. "Times thirty five."_ If Tien could do it, he could do it as well._ The strain almost caused him to fall out of the sky as he struggled with the power flowing through his veins. _Was this what being a Super Saiyan felt like?_ "Now!" he called out as he fired the red tinged Kamehameha at Cooler.

Cooler looked up when he noticed the Kamehameha Wave bearing down on him from above. "Fools!" he yelled out. "An attack that weak can't even scratch me. It will only harm your friends." Clutching Vegeta tightly, he fired off the energy charged up from his other hand. "Cosmic Cannon!"

The dark purple energy beam quickly covered the distance to Trunks only to be meet with by an equally large yellow energy blast, causing both blasts to detonate harmlessly in an explosion of light and sound.

Super Saiyan Gohan had arrived on the battlefield.

Distracted by the new arrival, Cooler didn't notice that Krillin's Kamehameha wave had been joined by Tien's Tri-Beam. The two attacks merged in midair before continuing on towards Cooler.

"What about Vegeta?" Krillin called out to Tien.

"No choice, we have to risk it. He can be brought back by the dragonballs," Tien replied as he focused on pouring more power into the attack. He was sweating hard as part of the power was coming directly from his life force.

"Your just speeding up your ends," Cooler told them. "Even if that energy blast harms me, I will just return good as new, while your energy be used up. But to even harm me it has to get through my Saiyan shield." With that he threw the struggling Saiyan Prince right into the path of the energy blast.

That chance however, had been exactly what Goku had been waiting for. Fingers placed to his forehead he appeared right in front of Vegeta, catching him in midair. In the next moment he was gone, reappearing right next to Gohan. "Nice of you to join us son," he remarked as he lay Vegeta down on the ground.

"Things look bad daddy," Gohan responded.

"It will be fine, as long as we work together I know we can beat him," Goku assured his son.

"Hey Cooler eat our Tri-Beam..." Tien began to yell out.

"Kamehameha" Krillin finished up.

The massive blue, yellow and red energy wave struck Cooler dead in the face with a massive explosion. Cooler had been counting on Vegeta to take most of the beam and hadn't bothered to really raise his defenses.

"More power!," Tien instructed. "We have to push things to the very edge."

"Right," Krillin said nodding.

"Kaio-ken times forty!," they yelled out together as they poured more energy into their attack.

Finally they were able to do no more, and dropping out of the Kaio-ken they floated down to the forest floor.

Smoke covered the battlefield for several minutes as everyone waited.

"Did they get him daddy?" Gohan asked his father.

* * *

_Kami's Lookout: Year 786 Future Timeline. _

The place looked like a disaster area. All of the plants were torn up, and the entire surface of the Lookout was covered in craters. Not a single tree could be seen anywhere._ What the hell had happened in his absence?_ Piccolo kept his guard up as he looked around the place. Hearing motion behind him he spun around, guard raised. With a sigh he lowered his guard. "Hello Popo."

"Piccolo? But that's impossible. I watched you die. I watched Kami go with you."

"Popo what the hell happened here? Where are the others? Kami can't be dead, otherwise I would be dead as well."

"The Androids happened. They came up up here looking for fun and games. I convinced them that I was dead, so they left. I have been afraid to restore the place to what it was once was in case they come back," Popo explained to him.

"What? I wasn't trapped in the Dead Zone for that long was I? The Androids are already here?" As Piccolo spoke, he noticed a few other things. He couldn't feel the power levels of any of the other fighters. _Wait a moment._ "Popo what year is this?"

"786, Piccolo."

"Shit, somehow I landed in the future timeline," Piccolo muttered.

"Yes but how?" Popo asked. "I don't see a time machine."

"It's a bit of a long story, but I was trapped in the Dead Zone for a while, and when escaping I learned how to shift myself across dimensions. And it looks like I can travel through time this way as well."

Popo shook his head in disbelief._ Yet how else to explain Piccolo being here?_ "Amazing. What now? Will you use this Shifting to go home, back to your timeline?"

Piccolo started to say yes, but something stopped him. "Not yet. If you don't mind, I would rather wait up here for a little bit. I want to watch the Androids and learn about them."

Popo nodded at this. "Very well. I will be glad for the company. It has been very lonely since Kami died."

* * *

_Wasteland: Year 766: Past Timeline. _

Everyone floated in the air as the smoke blew away from the battlefield. In the spot where the combined attacks had impacted Cooler, only a deep, massive crater remained.

"Damn it," Vegeta swore. "His power is unreal. Even after an attack like that, he is still so strong. We can't hope to match that kind of power."

"You can't true, but I can," a new voice said from above them.

Everyone looked up to see Future Gohan floating there. "That last attack was very impressive," he told Krillin and Tien. "You might have weakened him enough that I can handle him."

"We will fight with you future me," Gohan told his future counterpart.

"No. I want you to stay put, conserve your energy. This is my fight now."

Gohan was about to argue when Kami made contact with him again. "Yes Kami?" he asked mentally.

"Listen Cooler isn't unbeatable," Kami informed him.

"But we have killed him several times and he keeps coming back from it."

"Your not using enough power. Remember that the magic of the Dragon is limited by the power of its creator. If you were to use enough power you could likely overwhelm the magic of the Dragon," Kami explained.

"But none of us have that kind of power," Gohan protested.

"Not alone you don't," Kami responded.

Krillin pulled a brown bag out of his uniform pocket. "I have enough Senzu beans for everyone."

As Krillin handed out the Senzu beans, Future Gohan waited for Cooler to reemerge from the crater.

"Come on, Cooler. I know that you weren't seriously harmed by that attack," Future Gohan called down into the crater. He gathered energy as he spoke._ I can't hold anything back, it is all or nothing this time. I am the only one with the power to end this threat. _

_Another Saiyan?_ Cooler wondered at the bottom of the crater. _This one is a lot stronger then the others. Maybe this one would be worthy of fighting against. _ He ached for a chance to truly test out his new body. And so Cooler rose from the crater slowly. _ The truth was that last blast had hurt more then he cared to admit. _

The Z-Fighters gasped as they the true extent of the damage to Cooler's body was revealed. The tyrant was covered in burns and bruises as his armor was cracked in several places. One of his horns had been blown clean off his head, and his tail was missing several spikes.

"On second thought you are looking a little rough there, Cooler," Future Gohan said. "Not as rough as you going to look in a second though." He lifted his hands up to reveal two fully charged energy waves. "Double Masenko!" he yelled out as he thrust both hands forward.

Dammit! Not again!, Cooler thought just before the two energy waves impacted him, sending him spiraling downward. "Not happening," he yelled as he began to push the two Masenkos away from him.

Future Gohan vanished, appearing behind Cooler and kicking him into the Masenkos. He followed that up with another Masenko causing all three to detonate at once with a massive explosion that sent all of the other fighters flying backwards as they reacted quickly to escape the blast radius. But Future Gohan wasn't done. He continued to shoot energy blasts into the middle of the explosion. "Let's see you walk away from this one, Cooler!" he yelled out . "I am going to blast you into pieces so small that even the dragon can't heal you."

When the smoke cleared however, Cooler was floating calmly inside of a purple energy shield._ That had been a close one, as he had just gotten it up in time._

"You can't kill me," Cooler responded from inside his shield. "Idiot monkey, I am all powerful!" He powered up, dropping the shield and flying forward at Future Gohan.

The warriors met halfway to each other, their punches and kicks sending shock waves throughout the air around them. For several long moments they clashed, neither appearing to have the upper hand. Finally Future Gohan got a blow through, sending Cooler reeling backwards. He followed up with a kick to Cooler's head that snapped the other horn off. Another energy wave enveloped Cooler as the tyrant attempted to recover from the last blow.

"Damn monkey, you're just wasting your time. You can't harm me," Cooler told him as he blocked the energy wave, knocking it away.

"You look pretty roughed up to me," Future Gohan responded. "It appears that I am winning this fight as you are the one taking all of the hits."

Cooler clinched his fists together at that. "I have shown you only a fraction of my true power Saiyan."

"Is that so? Then what are you waiting for to show me the rest? An invite? Should I say please?" Future Gohan mocked him. _He can't have that much more power stored up. There is no way he is stronger than the Androids._

"If you're so eager to die I will show you," Cooler said as purple energy enveloped his body. As his power grew, the air around him warped, causing thunderstorms to form overhead. Lighting struck down around the two fighters as Cooler's power continued to grow.

_What? What's this power? Where is it all coming from? _Future Gohan wondered._ No! Its impossible that he can be this strong. He is tired and wounded, while I am mostly fresh. My father defeated him easily when I was a small child. I must not be trying hard enough. But his power...it far out stripes mine now. No, I won't fail this timeline as well._ "It doesn't matter how much you charge energy Cooler! You're still going to die by my hand!" With a snarl on his face Future Gohan attacked Cooler, fists flying.

* * *

_Kami's Lookout: Age 786: Future Timeline. _

Piccolo stood up with a start. "The Androids, they are attacking East City," he told Popo.

Popo nodded his head sadly. "Yes they do that a lot. It is their form of entertainment."

Clenching his fists Piccolo watched the Androids laughing as they tormented the population of East City. He could feel his anger swelling up inside. _Those bastards. They are exactly like how my father was, how I would have turned out if it wasn't for Gohan. _"I can't stand here and just watch them kill people Popo."

"No, Piccolo, you can't go." Popo told him. "You can't do anything to save those people. You will just get yourself killed. Think about what Gohan would want you to do."

"I am thinking about Gohan," Piccolo snapped back at him. "I am thinking that there is no way that Gohan would just stand here and allow this to go on."

"But if Gohan couldn't beat them and he is a Super Saiyan, what hope do you have?" Popo pointed out. "Please Piccolo, I don't want to watch you die again."

"I am much stronger than I was in this timeline," Piccolo responded. "Maybe not strong enough to beat them normally, but I have an ace in the hole." His white aura shifted to dark red as he spoke.

"The Kaio-ken...you learned it," Popo said with amazement. "I can feel the power pouring out of your body. Maybe...maybe you have a chance after all. But please Piccolo be careful."

Piccolo nodded at this."I will be careful Popo. I don't intend to try and kill them, only stall them so that people can escape. Then I will escape myself."

With that Piccolo took off, using the basic level of Kaio-ken to increase his speed as he flew towards East City.

* * *

_Wastelands: Past Timeline: Age 766_

Future Gohan picked himself up off the ground, wiping away the blood from his lip as he stood back up. Bruises covered his entire face and his shirt was ripped in several places as he bleed freely from a large number of cuts across his entire body. _I won't let it end this way, there is still something I can do. I am running out of time though, I have to put everything into a final attack. Still I will need time to charge up, and he won't give me that time. There has to be a way to beat him._

"Is that all of the power that you have Saiyan? How boring," Cooler commented as he floated above Future Gohan. "You didn't even give me a good workout once I showed you more of my true power." He charged a massive purple energy blast in his hand as he spoke. "I guess if you can't entertain me, then I have no reason to let you live any longer." He fired the blast at Future Gohan with a laugh. "Goodbye foolish monkey. If you dodge this the entire planet will explode. Galaxy Crusher!"

_Shit! I can't block that, it contains too much power. But if I don't it will destroy the Earth._ Gritting his teeth Gohan charged up as much power as he could, thrusting his hands upwards to catch the energy blast. _If I die in this timeline will my soul be stuck here?_ "Goodbye everyone, I tried my best, I really did," Future Gohan sent out to the other fighters.

* * *

_Location Unknown: Age 686: Future Timeline_

Cell looked up as he felt a massive ki appear in the distance. _That was...Piccolo. But he is dead. What is he doing here? How is he alive? He is heading somewhere fast radiating energy. I should follow him and see what he is up to. He might lead me right to Androids. _ Cell chuckled to himself as he rose up in the air suppressing his power level. _Soon, very soon I will become perfect._

* * *

_Wastelands: Age 766: Past Timeline_

Mere moments before the Galaxy Crusher impacted Future Gohans outstretched hands, a blur appeared in front of the energy blast. His eyes widened as he realized who it was. _No! Not him! _

Gohan appeared in front of the blast guard raised. _So this is how Piccolo felt when he saved me. Now its my turn to save someone. Without my future self we won't have enough power to defeat Cooler. _ Raising his power to its maximum he took the blast impact head on, not even attempting to counter. He had to soak up all of the energy, stop any of it from escaping. The blast hit him with a loud bang, sending him flipping end over end to land at the feet of his future self. His hair faded to black as he coughed up blood from the massive hole in his chest. Focusing his rapidly fading energy he broadcast the message that Kami had given him to the others. Gohan smiled as he closed his eyes for the final time. _I...did it...I saved him..._

* * *

_A/N: Hi everyone, I wrote this chapter much faster than I expected, so I am posting it early. Just in case there is any doubt, Gohan did die from blocking Cooler's last attack. _

_What are everyone's thoughts on how I am doing the back and forth between the timelines? Do you like? Would you rather I stick with one timeline for a longer period of time? Please let me know._

* * *

_Reviews_

_Son of Whitebeard_

_will we see King Cold at somepoint_

**Answered Via Pm**

_Lawrence Helmbain_

_Good chapter... if you wanted to instead of Piccalo using that ASN and USN you could have Cell use it instead..._

Another way all together to make Cell stronger... well in the show after he puked 18... reversed to Semi-Perfect... blew himself up... gained the power of around Ssj2...

Well what if when he fought 'Super' Vegeta before he absorbed 18... he was forced to self destruct early when Vegeta decided his Perfect Form wasn't worth his time... qhile at the same time instead of Goku and Gohan being in the Time Chamber it both Gohan's while Goku is waiting to go with Piccalo...

So after he reforms have a Ssj2 powered Semi-Perfect Cell absorb 18... and well... ya get it...

Btw I'm suggesting it because I don't like the Gohan/Videl pairing...

Either M-Gohan/Frieza mom XD XD(gotta admit that would be funny)...

M-Gohan/Broly OC sister...

Just an idea...

Btw if you're ever looking for challenges I have plenty of the...

I also have this awesome idea for a transformation that Mystic Saiyans could have... hint it involves a tail...

That should probably give most of the idea away... tho its more complex.

**As I said before, I already have my upgrades for Piccolo in mind. They will come into play soon. Cell will be plenty strong, and I will say no more about that for spoiler reasons. Though I think he got SSJ2 like power because he was fighting an SSJ2 and that is what his Zenkai boost granted him. I don't think he would get the same boost if he only fought an ASSJ. Pairings will be revealed in later chapters. **

**I am not looking for challenges as I have plenty that I want to write, but still haven't had the time to write. Thank you for the offer.**

**I already have ideas of my own for SSJ4 (assuming I use it in this story). You can feel free to PM me the idea for the Mystic Saiyans anyway. Who knows, I might use one or two of them. **

_Ky111_

_Great chapter and so Cooler kicks it up to yet another level. So where is Piccolo and how will things with Cooler and Garlic end up._

Later.

**Yes, Cooler continues to tap the depths of the power that this form grants him. Piccolo is in the Future Timeline currently. Garlic Jr got dealt with in this chapter. As for Cooler, that would be spoiling things to tell you. I will say that this part of the story is wrapping up soon, however. **

_Link60fly_

_this story is really good keep it going_

**Thank you. I am glad that you are enjoying it.**

* * *

_Power Levels_

_Cooler Suppressed: 225,000,000_

__Cooler Weakened: 210,000,000__

__Cooler Powered Up: 280,000,000__

__Future Gohan SSJ: 220,000,000__

__Gohan SSJ: 167,000,000__

__Vegeta SSJ: 192,000,000__

__Future Trunks SSJ: 188,000,000__

__Goku SSJ: 190,000,000__

__Vegeta SSJ Post Zenkai Boost: 200,000,000__

__Future Trunks SSJ Post Zenkai Boost: 197,000,000__

__Tien Kaio-ken Times Thirty Five: 49,000,000__

__Krillin Kaio-ken Times Thirty Five: 43,750,000__

__Krillin Kaio-ken Times Forty:50,000,000__

__Tien Kaio-ken Times Forty: 56,000,000__

__Krillin Kaio-ken Times Forty + Kamehameha: 55,000,000__

__Tien Kaio-ken Times Forty + Tri-Beam: 65,000,000__

__Kaio-ken Times Forty Tri-Beam Kamehameha: 120,000,000__

__Piccolo Kaio-ken Times Two: 110,000,000__


	8. Chapter 8-Gohan Rising

**DI**

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 8 – Gohan Rising**

* * *

_Disclaimer: Cooler would vaporize me if I didn't tell you that I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT._

* * *

_**"Don't fear justice, fear me."**_

* * *

_A/N: A huge thanks to my friend and beta reader Chemistry-Death. She worked tirelessly on this chapter to make some pretty major improvements._

* * *

_Wastelands: Age 766: Past Timeline_

Future Gohan stared at the young body of his past-self as he sensed the body's ki die. It was surreal. The words Gohan had broadcast into their minds were repeating in his mind. The body lay damaged at his feet. And Cooler ... Cooler was above him. He ignored the murderer as he dropped down to dead body, wanting to make sure. "No," he whispered as his hands touched young Gohan's face. It was warm, but it won't be for long. In contrast, Future Gohan's emotion raged.

"NO!" he screamed out as he fully understood what had happened. Young Gohan's sacrifice could have been him and should have been him. Grief poured out, mixing with his anger. _This is not real! I couldn't have failed. How the fuck did I let my past self killed in front of me like that?! First Piccolo, and now this? Am I always going to be too weak to save those I care about? I... I can't let this happen again! I won't! I can do something about this! That murdering bastard shall pay and never harm anyone else again! _With his mind made up, his power was released unrestrained. He could feel more power hidden away but no longer out of reach. His rage and grief had broken down that barrier he had trouble tearing down. He was going to use all he has, all he got, and more to bring down Cooler.

Trunks couldn't believe his eyes nor his senses. He had felt Past Gohan flew in front of the blast and heard his dying message, but he was too shocked to react. His own mentor had nearly died in front of him and only one who prevented that had been Past Gohan. He felt terrible that he couldn't do the same as the young brave Gohan had done.

The rest of the Z fighters were in similar state of shock. Only two managed to break out of their surprise was Krillin and Goku. Krillin was worried about his best friend and his wife about the death of their son. Added to that was he sense of helplessness and unable to change anything.

As for Goku, he was angry. Like against Frieza when he killed Krillin, Goku felt his power was going to burst by his anger. No one was going to get away with killing his loved ones!

A roaring cry ripped out of his throat as he shouted, "Gohan!" His tears streamed down as his aura increased in size. He was not going to hold back and play any longer. Keeping the message in mind from his son, he vowed to vanquish Cooler. "I'm going to make you wish you had never gotten that immortality, Cooler!" he shouted as he placed two fingers to his forehead.

* * *

_~Lookout~_

"This is terrible," Kami said since he saw the whole thing. Being a guardian, his job required him to watch over the people of Earth. With this battle determining the fate of Earth, he dared not look away. "How could this happen?" he questioned himself as he felt young Gohan's ki fade.

Beside him was his ever faithful servant, Mr. Popo asked, "What is it, Kami?" He was sweeping up the area when he heard Kami talked to himself. His question was immediately answered.

"Young Gohan had just died," Kami told him without moving his gaze from the battle. "It's quite a shock for everyone since he had saved his older self. I only hope that it could motivate them to get their act together and destroy Cooler for good together. They shouldn't get too rash against such a being like Cooler. If they don't work together against him, Gohan won't be the only loss they suffer today."

* * *

_~Wasteland~_

High above the shocked or angry Z fighters was the immortal Cooler, who was amused by the events. "Looks like I killed the wrong monkey," he gloated not at all affected by the surprised suicide by young Gohan. The mere thought of it made him laugh. "A monkey is still a monkey regardless who it was, and there is still four of you left." He looked down at them seeing the four said monkeys, ignoring the cries of anguish. He kept his gaze on Future Gohan expecting a retaliation from him. "Shall I start wi-?" A jolt of mild pain from his back interrupted him and was immediately followed by more blows. Future Gohan hadn't moved from his spot.

Cooler was unimpressed as he remained unmoving against the barrage. Bored of the unrelenting attack, he spun around and caught the next attack which was Goku's leg. "Really, Saiyan? Is that the best you can do? This is going to be easier than I thought." He sneered at the furious Saiyan.

"Your immortality won't protect you for long, bastard," Goku growled as he struggled to break free. "Now that you killed my son, you're not getting off this planet alive! Even if I have to sacrifice myself to do it!" His rage had increased his power, but the iron grip was still holding. Instead, he switched tactics and decided to charge his blue energy between his hands. "Kamehame-ha!"

The awkward position didn't prevent Goku from firing the point-blank Kamehameha Wave right in Cooler's face and upper torso. The shock of such an attack at close quarters made Cooler's grip to loosen. Goku took the opportunity and broke free without stopping the attack._ It wasn't going to be enough, _and Goku knew it. It did not disturb him because he was serious when he said he was going to kill Cooler even if it cost his life. Without hesitation, he poured his own life energy into the Kamehameha Wave and caused it to almost double in size.

Cooler didn't stay stunned for long and remained airborne despite the punishing attack. Placing his hands on the wave, he started to push his body away. Ignoring his sizzling hands, he shouted, "You think this is enough to destroy me?! You're weak and soon will see your son in death! Not even all of you monkeys can hold a candle to my true power!"

The taunt flew over Goku's head as he concentrated in continuing the wave. In fact, his friends were soon shouting at him, but none of their words got to Goku. He was too focused in defeating Cooler to care. It was going to cost him as he felt his life force drain away into the wave.

Down below, the humans were getting worried. They could feel Goku's life force added to his famous Kamehameha. "Goku, no!" Krillin shouted as tears began to collect in his eyes.

"He's going to get himself killed," Tien observed. He knew exactly what Goku was getting himself into since he exceled in life force type attacks. He couldn't deny the usefulness of what Goku was doing.

"Killed? Again?" Yamcha moaned in disbelief. Since the Earth's Dragon Balls had already wished back Goku, they'll have to contact the Namekians for their Dragon Balls. ...Somehow.

Vegeta simply looked over them with scorn. _Prosperous, Kakarot isn't some weaklings like they are. __As a Saiyan warrior, he'll survive this. Otherwise, I'll have to kill him again if he ever dies on me. Now, what are you going to do, Gohan? _He had shifted his gaze to Future Gohan and felt his power rising.

Trunks didn't say anything either and ignored the earthlings. He too was focused on Gohan and was subconsciously aware about Vegeta.

Back to the struggle, Cooler was slowly being cornered by the increasing wave. His hands were being scorched as he held it at bay. _How is this keep on getting bigger? _Cooler's instinct told him he had to move to survive, but confident in his immortality, he ignored it. It annoyed him to no end how powerful these Saiyans were. They found new strength every time he managed to surpass them. Deciding not to add more power to his defenses, he focused on keeping the wave at bay.

It was exhausting to keep the wave going as Goku kept adding his life force. His vision started clouding up as his other senses soon dulled out. The loud roar of his Kamehameha had become background noise, and the brightness dimmed. However, his ki sense was sharp as ever. He could feel it. He could feel Cooler's defenses breaking against his ki wave. Scraping his reserves, he gave a final push and broke through. Cooler was soon engulfed by the wave. Goku finally let go his Kamehameha and felt severely spent. The only other time he felt this way was back against King Piccolo.

Silence had fallen on the spectators as they watched the wave vanished into the horizon. Not a trace of Cooler was to be seen. "I-is it over?" Krillin asked as he quaked in fear.

"I don't see him," Tien replied looking around.

"Maybe-?" Yamcha started but was unable to finish his thoughts.

"No," Trunks interrupted. "I can still sense his-" A hum of energy was the only indication of an attack when a beam of ki hit Trunks on his back. It tore right through his body. Trunks collapsed in pain.

Behind him, Cooler lowered his hand. "There, one less piece of Saiyan trash to worry about." Whatever damage the Kamehameha had done was already healed by his immortality. What it had done was making Cooler more pissed off, making him look more evil and intimidating. "I have enough of playing around with all of you. I will personally execute all of you weakling scum!" Nobody had made the Lord of the entire galaxy hate inferiors as much as this little band had done. "Marvel at my true power!" Done with messing around, Cooler drew out all the power he had. The area shook from his overwhelming strength.

"He has more power still?" Krillin questioned in disbelief.

"We are so dead," Yamcha added as the power had him rooted to his spot.

"Wait a minute," Tien whispered, only heard by Krillin and Yamcha. "His power is not the only thing growing."

"Are you serious?" Yamcha shot back, looking around for the culprit.

"Quit pulling our legs, Ti-," Krillin started when he also detected a second ki. He couldn't believe he missed it earlier when Goku was attacking Cooler. It had boomed just after Trunks got hurt. _Trunks! Maybe if I hurry, he could be saved! _Krillin thought as he sprinted to him since he was the one holding the Senzus. Upon arriving, he could see the pained expression Trunks had. Carefully, he knelt next to him and gently clasped on his shoulder. "Trunks?"

"Uuggh, Kr-krillin?" Trunks responded as he tried to see him better. The pain jolted causing him to grit his teeth. Swallowing, he tried talking, but Krillin immediately shushed him by putting a Senzu bean in his mouth.

"Don't talk, just eat. Be glad you're still alive. And, I'm glad to have these in hand." Krillin helped him to a more comfortable Senzu did its job and Trunks felt the pain lessened. Feeling slightly better, he tried to get up only to be blocked by Krillin. "Hold on, Trunks. It's not a good idea to be moving around so suddenly. Also, keep your power level down."

Trunks shot him a quizzing look. "Wait, what? Why?"

"It's Gohan, your Gohan. I think he broke. Don't you feel his power level rising? It's been happening since our Gohan died. It's going through the roof!"

"Oh, yeah it is. Guess I'm playing dead," Trunks said weakly. He allowed his eyes to drop shut and relaxed next to Krillin.

_Come on, Gohan. You can do this and surpassed this monster! _Krillin thought as he kept watch over Trunks. He could feel Gohan and Cooler's power levels competing with each other.

Gohan froze when he saw Cooler right behind Trunks and killed him. He never wanted to see anyone die in front of him again, least of all Trunks. He had promised Bulma to keep him safe, and he was never the one to break his promise. Failing to do so was pure torture. He cursed himself for being preoccupied by his thoughts to help Goku against Cooler and even more so in failing to get Trunks out of the way or stopping Cooler from materializing behind him in the first place. Well, he won't be delaying any longer as his power freely came forth. He was going to surpass Cooler's level of power and crush him as he raised his own to match.

It didn't take long for Gohan to reach Cooler's increased power and started surpassing him. Underneath all of Gohan's anger was awe over his own power. The power that was hidden flowed freely throughout his body, causing a noticeable change. Gohan felt his muscles bulge outward, and his confidence was boosted. He was going to do what his father had failed to do. With one last howl of anguish, he leveled off and maintained his power. He was entirely focused on Cooler.

Cooler had leveled off before Gohan had and was gazing at his victims when Gohan's howl distracted him. Refocusing his attention on Gohan, his eyes widened at the effects Gohan had. Not only does his muscles bulged, the skies seemed to darkened. It was too surreal for him._Was he imitating me? That looked like a new form like my family does. Why do this happen every time? _Cooler was getting sick of this. Lifting a hand above his head, he began to charge a yellow ball of energy above his finger. It took seconds to fully charge it. A massive ball of energy floated above his finger, the size of a small sun. "You all can eat space dust for all I care! I'll get my own transportation after this planet blows! See you all in Hell!"

He flung the Super Nova down at the planet. _Soon, very soon it will all be over. Only a few seconds of life left for..._Coolers thoughts cut off as the Saiyan he had been fighting earlier rose up to challenge his Super Nova. "How foolish. It will consume you on the way to hitting the planet," he chuckled. After launching his ultimate attack, he relaxed himself while holding on to his power. He grown tired of underestimating them but was confident that none of them would survive.

Gohan watched the Super Nova as it headed downward right at him. _I have to deflect this, so Earth won't suffer so much damage. _Raising both hands above his head, he charged an energy blast of his own. Already adjusting himself to the Super Nova, he fired, "Masenko!" The Masenko was dwarfed by the Super Nova in size but made up with its power. The concentrated ki attack blew through the Super Nova and disappeared in space. The Super Nova warped outward from the hole causing the sky to brighten for several seconds.

Trunks shifted from the brightness, alerting Krillin. "Whoa, whoa, careful," Krillin told him as he helped him to a more comfortable position. "Gohan's been doing an amazing job. Good thing you had him as your mentor." Trunks only nodded in response.

Sighing, Krillin glanced at his friends and waved for their attention. "Hey! Could one of you get a Senzu for Goku? I'm kinda busy with Trunks!"

Yamcha was the first to respond and jogged towards Krillin. "I'll get this to him!" After Goku had fired the Kamehameha Wave, he had lowered himself to the ground and hadn't moved since.

Gohan sighed in relief when the threat of Cooler's attack passed. _That was a close one. I can't allow him to try anything like that again. _"You're a monster for trying to destroy Earth! As if that isn't enough that you also killed Gohan and Trunks! For their sacrifice I will defeat you," Gohan proclaimed and vanished. He reappeared right in front of Cooler.

Stunned, Cooler barely dodged the Masenko as it flew past him. He stared distracted at the Masenko till it was out of sight before returning his gaze to the blown up Super Nova. He managed to keep his composure when Gohan appeared in front of him. Cooler swung his fist at the face of his foe, only to have it easily blocked. Not even discouraged by it, he continued his relentless attacks. All were either blocked or dodged successfully by Gohan.

"How fast are they?" Yamcha asked to no one in particular. He managed to follow their movements, but couldn't tell who was winning.

"I don't know, but maybe Gohan could win," Tien replied.

"Yeah, I hope so!"

Gohan had enough of playing games and countered Cooler's attack by burying a fist in Cooler's gut. The protective armor was shattered by the punch, causing Cooler to double over. To Gohan, everything looked like it was moving in slow motion. He didn't intend to find out if Cooler had more power locked away somewhere. It was time to end this; end it now. He kicked Cooler hard in the face and heard a crack as Cooler's head whipped around from the impact. A single kick and he had broken Cooler's neck. He had defeated the Tyrant in two blows.

Vegeta stood at a safe distance. The black haired Saiyan Prince watched the fight with his arms crossed across his chest. Amazing. He crushed him with only two blows. Kakarot couldn't keep up with Cooler, but his son dispatches him as if it is nothing to him. Still, for all of his power, he can't win. Not like this. Cooler's immortally gives him unlimited stamina and he can use it to wear Gohan down over time. Gohan needs to finish this now. Vegeta heard the humans talking as if the fight was already won, and he turned part of his attention back to them. "No. Gohan hasn't won yet. We will have to stand ready to help him if the need arises." Grudgingly, he nodded at Tien and Krillin. "Your combined attack earlier was impressive. It might yet be required."

Tien looked over at Vegeta, showing nothing on his face. Internally, his thoughts were spinning. _Was that respect from Vegeta? Respect towards those he considered his lesser?_ Maybe, this battle against Cooler was having a positive impact on his attitude. "We won't let Gohan down," he assured the Saiyan Prince.

Grunting from the effort, Cooler reached up and cracked his neck back into place. "Idiot, have you forgotten that you can't kill me?"

"Not at all. I was just testing out my new power," Gohan responded.

Cooler glared at Gohan as anger laced his words. "You dare to mock me? Mock Lord Cooler? You're going to suffer greatly for that."

"Believe what you want. I mean it when I say I will crush you." Gohan readied himself for another round.

* * *

_Check in Station: Other World: Age 766: Past Timeline_

"Son Gohan, step forward!" a loud voice boomed out.

Gohan had been waiting in line for what seemed like forever, but in reality was only a couple of moments. Quickly obeying the voice, he stepped forward. He saw upon entering a giant mahogany desk. Sitting behind the desk was a giant red ogre with a beard, and a helmet with two giant horns. Other than his massive size and skin coloring, Gohan thought that he sort of looked like his Grandpa the Ox-King. Sitting on his desk was a collection of books, and the massive ogre was holding a giant stamp in one hand.

"I am King Yemma. I judge the dead," the giant ogre boomed down at Gohan.

Gohan wasn't sure what to do. When his father had talked about being dead, he hadn't mentioned this part. He talked mostly about his training with King Kai. Remembering what he had seen go on in his grandpa's kingdom, Gohan gave a deep bow before King Yemma. _Why were they all called King? Couldn't their only be one King for a given area?_

"Bowing is not required," King Yemma told him. "Though, it is about time I get the proper respect," he muttered to himself. "All of this work I do for the souls, and do I ever get so much as a thank you? No, I don't. All I get is complaining about this, or complaining about that, or requests to please spare so and so." He coughed into his free hand. "Anyway, it says that you are the son of Son Goku?"

"Yes sir," Gohan said, settling on that form of address because he wasn't sure that King Yemma was really a King.

"Dealing with your father left me behind on my work. It took me several years to catch up," King Yemma noted. "Anyway, let's take a look at what you did in your short life. The book says that you died saving," he paused here to double check, reading the passage on Gohan's death a second time. "...Am I reading this correctly? You died saving yourself from the future?"

Gohan wasn't sure what to make of his comments, so he wisely decided not to say anything. Instead, he focused on the part that directly affected him. He nodded in response to the question directed at him. "Yes sir, that is correct."

"Well, that's new at least," King Yemma remarked. "Earthlings, always finding new and creative ways to die. At least, your planet isn't boring."

Again, Gohan wasn't sure of what to do or say next. He was pretty sure that none of the other interviews had taken this long. When he had gotten closer, he had seen King Yemma hardly glancing at the soul in question before stamping something in his book and waving them on. Now, he noticed the seemingly floating white...well...clouds for lack of a better word, was souls. Was it because he was a good person that he got to keep his body? Did that mean that none of the other souls were good people? "Umm, excuse me, King Yemma?"

King Yemma looked up from his books as Gohan spoke again. "Yes? You have a question for me?"

"Yes sir. Why do I have my body when nobody else does?" Gohan questioned him.

"Oh. That is quite easy to explain. Only those that are very good or very evil get to keep their bodies."

This confused Gohan further. _Surely, at least one of those other souls fit into that range. Also, why did he have his body if he hadn't been judged yet? Or, had he been judged? If he had been judged, why was he talking to the judge of souls still? None of this was logical at all._ He settled on the safe answer which was quickly becoming his fallback answer. "Yes, sir."

King Yemma muttered to himself a bit more before stamping the book. "Okay, you can go now." He turned the page in the book. "Monty Oum, step forward!"

Gohan stood there for several seconds in silence before looking himself over. His body was still there. _But, go where?_

King Yemma looked up a few moments later to see Gohan standing there. His face turned redder. "What part about you can go wasn't I clear about? Are you trying to get sent to Hell?"

Gohan shook his head. "No sir I just..."

"Scoot on then, you are holding up my line," King Yemma told him. "I swear, the Son family always delaying things." He turned his attention back to Monty Oum. "You died during a retinue medical procedure. It might interest you to know that your funeral was well attended. You did a great deal in your short life, so I am granting you a pass to Heaven. You can animate for Heaven. Our health care plan is of top quality. Pass onward."

"Why are you still standing there?" King Yemma barked at Gohan. "You are really trying my patience now, young man."

Gohan looked down at the ground. "I don't know where to go, sir."

King Yemma looked puzzled at that. "You are allowed to keep your body for the heroic acts you did in defense of Earth. Therefore, you have the option to go travel down Snake Way and train with King Kai. Just like your father did. I assumed that is what you wanted. So, what is the problem?" He waved behind him with the stamp. "Snake Way is straight out that way, you can't miss it."

Gohan smiled at that. "Thank you, King Yemma." Not wanting to waste anymore time, or try the patience of King Yemma any longer, Gohan zipped forward, running through the halls of the Check in Station. As he left, he heard King Yemma muttering behind him.

"This conversation put me behind another couple of years. Sometimes I wonder why I bother with the Son family at all. I should just send them all to Hell and be done with the lot of them."

* * *

_Wastelands: Age 766: Past Timeline_

Cooler couldn't believe what was happening. He was completely powerless to stop the raging Saiyan in front of him. Although he was currently fighting at his maximum power level, it wasn't making a damn bit of difference. Future Gohan had even laughed at him when he talked about powering up to his limit, telling him to go ahead since it wouldn't make any difference. Still, despite the massive damage his body was taking, the magic of the Dragon was working almost as fast to heal him. "I will get you Saiyan, and when I do, you are going to suffer. I will kill all of your friends and family in front of you, and then I will make you beg for death."

"Doesn't getting me require being able to land a blow?" Future Gohan asked him. He hadn't expected to be having this much fun tormenting Cooler, but his Saiyan blood sang as he continued to inflict massive pain on the one who had cost him so much already today.

"Gohan! Finish him off!" his counterpart father called out. "There's enough power from you to do it!"

Future Gohan shook his head at that thought. "Not yet, dad. He deserves to suffer more for what he has done today, for what he has done to countless other worlds. He deserves to see what is like to be on the other side of all of the pain."

"No! That is not how we fight! Yes, he deserves to die, but he doesn't deserve to be tortured," Goku pleaded with his son from the future.

Future Gohan gave Cooler a hard look before responding. "That isn't how you fight, sure, but I will tell you something, father. All those lessons you taught me did no good when the Androids arrived and tortured everyone. You have no idea how many times I begged for death, how I wanted to die more than anything. But, they told me why would they kill me and ruin all of the fun that I brought them. Well now, it's my turn to have some fun. The fact that he is immortal makes it so much better. I can inflict as much pain as I want, and he can't do a thing about it."

Goku paled as he heard his future son speak. _What horrors had he gone through at the hands of the Androids to twist him like this? This wasn't the right way to handle things. Cooler was clearly beaten, and Gohan had the power to finish it. It was time to finish things, cleanly and quickly._ "He killed my son. I want to rip him apart more than anything. I want to rip him limb from limb and then let him heal and do it again. But, that is just my grief talking. That isn't right. Please tell me you still know right from wrong."

Future Gohan didn't give a damn about Goku's vision of right and wrong. When your entire life was lived in a war zone, the first thing that went was concepts of morality. He did what he had to, he always would. And if he wasn't considered right, well then his father here just didn't understand what he had been through. He was sure that his real father would understand his actions. No, more than that, he would agree with his actions.

Trunks spoke up in support of Goku. "Gohan please, just finish it, so we can be done with this battle. Don't become like the Androids. They are monsters. We aren't."

The plea about the Androids finally got through to Future Gohan. _Trunks was right. They weren't monsters; they didn't torture for fun._ He turned his attention back to Cooler. "Ready to die, scum?" he asked him as he began to charge an attack. _How appropriate that Cooler would die to his father's trademark attack since it had been his past counterpart that had died here today._ "This is it for you; no more playing games."

"You can't kill me," Cooler stated with confidence. "Go ahead and waste your energy. Sooner or later you will run out, and when you do, I will strike."

With a flare of his aura Gohan was ready. "Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" Gohan yelled as he fired the blue energy wave directly at Cooler.

Cooler counted with his own attack. "Galaxy Crusher!"

The two attacks met in midair in a clash of blue and purple beams.

* * *

_King Kai's Planet: Other World: Age 766_

Gohan looked around as he arrived on King Kai's planet. It was kind of small honestly, a lot smaller than he had expected. The first thing he noticed was the increased gravity, and increasing his power level canceled that out. Standing in the middle of the field was a fat blue creature. He appeared to be focused on events outside of his planet. That, Gohan knew from what his father had said was King Kai. Time to make myself known then. "Hello, I am..."

"Gohan, yes, you are Goku's son for sure," King Kai told him without turning away from the events of the battle that was unfolding on Earth. "You might be interested to know that your death had meaning. Your future self reached another level of power, and he is dominating Cooler now."

That was good news indeed. But how did King Kai know that? Could he be... "King Kai, are you watching the battle right now?"

"Yes, I am."

"Do you think they will win?"

"If things continue as they currently are, yes, they will."

That news caused Gohan to break out in a big smile. "Really! Can I watch please?"

King Kai sighed. "Sure thing, all you have to do is place your hand on my shoulder."

Gohan nodded and did as he instructed. Suddenly, he could see everything on the battlefield. He looked at the bigger more muscled form of his future self in amazement. "Wow, he is really strong. I have to get that power for myself. I have to be stronger next time so that I don't fail everyone." Gohan turned part of his attention back to King Kai, "Please, King Kai, you trained my father, you trained Piccolo, can you also train me?"

"I will, but first you have to tell me a joke that will make me laugh."

A joke? Gohan wondered. His father had mentioned anything about that. Still, the young Half-Saiyan remembered reading from a joke book when he was younger. Maybe one of those would work. Still now was time to focus on the battle, not tell jokes. "Okay King Kai, I will after the battle is finished."

* * *

_Wastelands: Age 766: Past Timeline_

_This power, I must have it for myself. _Vegeta knew that now that the way had been shown to him, he wouldn't stop until he too ascended past the limits of the basic Super Saiyan form. Watching the battle between the two superpowers, Vegeta had began to notice a few of the weaknesses of the Ascended Super Saiyan form. _For all of the power it granted the user, it made them slower. It didn't matter with the large power gap between Future Gohan and Cooler, but it would matter between two fighters of more or less equal strength. There must be a way to retain the strength without giving up speed and agility. And I will find it! For now though there was a battle to win. _ To that end, Vegeta began to charge up his own energy attack.

Goku looked over as Vegeta drew power between his hands. "Vegeta, what are you doing? You can't interfere with the fight. You don't have enough power to fight Cooler."

Vegeta glanced at Kakarot with contempt. "Kakarot, what did information did your..." he started to say brat, but he had had to admit that what Gohan had done was brave if not foolhardy, and the child had saved his son from the future, "... son pass on before he died?"

Comprehension dawned on Goku's face as he considered that. "He said that Kami told him that we could only beat Cooler by all working together to overcome his power. But, that was before my future son transformed. He is crushing Cooler now without even breaking a sweat. We can feel the differences in their power levels."

Vegeta felt like slapping Kakarot upside the head at this moment. "Idiot, none of it means anything unless Gohan can muster the power to finish the job. If he kills Cooler and he returns, we are no closer to victory than we were before he transformed. Now that you're healed, we're attacking together. We will only get shot at this." Vegeta turned his attention to the other fights present on the battlefield. "That includes all of you. We have to put everything into this final attack. No one can hold anything back. We will only get one shot at this. This is our moment; this is the final struggle of the larger battle."

As Goku tried the process the idea of Vegeta giving a battlefield speech, the other fighters exchanged looks with each other.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Vegeta is right. We have to help our friend from the future," Tien stated. "Krillin, how many Senzu beans do you have left?"

Krillin did a quick count of the beans in his bag. "Four," he responded.

"Well, Goku already had one, so Trunks, do you need one?"

Trunks was currently sitting up since he doesn't have to pretend playing dead. In fact, he felt well rested. "No, I'm fine." To show he was, he stood up ready.

"Ok, that leaves Krillin, Yamcha, and me. We should leave at least one for Gohan."

"No, that's cool," Yamcha interrupted, "I don't need one. You two should get one, so we all can use our full power."

"If you say so," Krillin said as he handed Tien one. He got himself one and placed the bag securely on his belt.

Goku was still processing this sudden change in Vegeta as Vegeta set to work on charging his attack. Seeing that it doesn't matter, he followed suit. While the Earthlings were debating about the Senzus, Trunks had joined the Saiyans' lead of charging his own Finish Buster. The other fighters each began to charge their strongest attacks.

Krillin smiled at Tien. "Ready to combine attacks again, buddy?"

"Yes," was the one word answer as Tien rose into the air, the aura of the Kaio-ken already appearing around his body.

Above them, the beams continued to clash in a display of blue and purple.

"Give it up, you can't overpower me! I am much stronger than you. This is the end for you Cooler!" Future Gohan told his foe as he continued to pour power into his Kamehameha. "You are going to pay for all of those that you hurt. Gohan, especially."

Cooler laughed at that. "You are such a fool. You are making the same mistake that everyone else made. Even if this wave wipes me out, I will just return. You will have used all of this energy up for nothing!" Sweat dripped off his forehead as he spoke, however. He was being pushed backwards in this matter how much power he poured into his beam, his foe was able to match it, no exceed it. It was inconceivable that a Saiyan could be stronger than his current form, yet here it was happening again._ Damn this planet anyway, why am I still even here? I should have taken the offer to leave when I had the chance._ A sudden inspiration struck him as he continued down this track of thought.

As he tried to halt his backward progress, Cooler presented his offer. "Something bad is due to happen to this planet in six months; I remember you mentioning that. So, why should we be here at all?"

Future Gohan shot him a confused look. "I don't understand. Are you raving mad because of the knowledge of your impending demise?"

"No, Saiyan. Try to pay attention to the thread of the conversation," Cooler snapped at him as he felt Future Gohan's beam beginning to breakthrough his defenses. "We can all leave this planet, and escape whatever is coming. You can serve me in my empire. No not serve me, work alongside me," Cooler gasped out in pain as the beam broke through his defenses. "We can use the dragon balls on New Namek to wish back your friend, so no harm no foul."

The offer only got him a look of anger and disbelief. "The pain is getting to your mind if you think that we, any of us, would ever work alongside of you in any situation! We would rather fight and die than ever join you!" He poured more power into the beam. It was time to finish this once and for all. "Now, be gone!" he shouted out as he put everything he had into one final push.

Down below, the rest of the Z-Fighters were ready.

"Now!" Vegeta shouted as he fired his Atomic Blast upward at Cooler. "We have to angle our attacks to all hit Cooler at once," he instructed the other fighters.

"Right!" chorused the other fighters as they all fired together.

The beams all hit roughly the same time, joining the energy blast of Future Gohan. It overpowered Cooler's energy blast back at him. The tyrant screamed as the resulting blast consumed him.

In moments, it was over. Cooler was no more.

Future Gohan hung in the air waiting searching for any sign of Cooler's energy. He struggled to remain in his new form as the fatigue of the battle was starting to get to him.

Many minutes passed as everyone waited for the return of Cooler.

Finally, Future Gohan allowed his hair to fade back to black as he landed on the battlefield. What had once been a forest just outside of a town was now a complete wasteland. _Nothing would grow here for a long time, _Future Gohan allowed himself a grim smile as his father approached him.

"It's over finally," Goku confirmed to him. "You did it, you avenged Gohan."

The tired future warrior shook his head. "No father, we avenged him."

* * *

_Capsule Corp, West City: Age 766: Three days after the defeat of Cooler: Six Months Before the Arrival of the Androids_

After the long and tiring battle with Cooler, everyone had returned to their homes to rest. They agreed to meet up at Capsule Corp a few days later.

Now they all sat around the main dining room table. Even Vegeta was there.

"Let's not beat around the bush here," Future Gohan began. "None of you are strong enough to fight the Androids at this moment. Honestly, I don't know if you can get strong enough to fight them one on one. Not in the in the six months left before they arrive."

For the last three days, Gohan had been at his own home. It was a very strange experience since he rarely went to his own house in his timeline. He should go see his own mother when he returns. As he was healing, Chi-Chi had been busy with raising a new baby in the house. Seeing the little brother he never had made him wonder if the Androids had never attacked: would he have one? It appeared that neither Chi-Chi or Goku had settled on a name after his birth. When he was given permission to hold him, it reminded him a few times where his own mother would talk to him about siblings. It was him that suggested the name Goten. It didn't take long for everyone comfortable with the name.

Aside from not having a little brother, he thought a lot about what to do. There was absolutely no way any of them were ready for the Androids. There was a lot of training ahead now that his body was recovered from the fight against Cooler. He was looking forward to being able to make measurable gains just through training again. "Right now, I think the focus should be on gaining as much strength as possible before they arrive. Then, we can fight them as a group. I am sure that I can kill one of them if you can keep the other one busy."

"You're staying?" Bulma asked as she carried baby Trunks to one of the two side by side high chairs. Occupying the other high chair was Chi-Chi's new son, Goten. It's amazing how hungry half-Saiyans could be.

The Future guests glanced at each other before facing the rest. They had talked about this before leaving their own time. "Er, well, we found out that our time machine don't have enough to make the return trip," Trunks said sheepishly.

"We'll worry about that later," Gohan told everyone. "We came back to warn all of you about the new attacker as well as train with all of you anyways."

"Is this new attacker has anything to do with your right eye?" Vegeta asked.

Gohan realized that he hadn't told anyone about what had happened to his eye. Chi-Chi had asked, but he avoided it at that time since he needed rest. "Yes, Vegeta. He wasn't anything like I have seen." So, Gohan told them their tale with Trunks interjecting. They told everything they know from the attacker called Cell as well as the battle afterwards. The idea that Dr. Gero could create something as horrifying as Cell weighed heavily on everyone's mind.

Goku was the first to break the silence that fell over the kitchen. "We can't do anything about that now. After we take care of the Androids, we'll make sure this Cell don't exist. And, there is a way to gain a lot of strength in a very short amount of time," Goku stated.

Everyone turned their attention to him when he said that.

"How, Kakarot? And, why haven't you thought to mention this before now?" Vegeta asked his rival.

"It's called the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. I spent a month there when I was a small boy. The Chamber is located up on Kami's Lookout," Goku explained to them. "It slipped my mind until now, and I didn't see any reason to use up until now."

"How does it work Goku?" Tien inquired of his friend. He didn't remember Goku mentioning a month of special training when they were younger. They could have used that chamber when they were training against the threat of the Saiyans.

"You can get an entire year worth of training in there while only a day passes out here," Goku answered.

"Idiot," Vegeta swore at him. "You stupid clown. You knew of this and you didn't bother to mention it before now? With that kind of advantage we could have crushed Cooler without any effort. Then the Androids wouldn't stand a chance against any of us. A single week of training in there, and we would be unstoppable."

"It doesn't work like that though, Vegeta," Goku objected. "You can only spend two days in there for your entire lifetime. Spend any longer and the door to the Chamber closes forever, and you are trapped."

"Even still, Kakarot, you should have brought this Chamber to our attention before this." Inside Vegeta was almost giddy at the thought of two years of training compressed into two days. He could reclaim his title as the strongest Saiyan alive in that time frame. Gohan's new Ascended Super Saiyan form had clear weaknesses, those weaknesses could be overcome with two years to train. Still his training would be a lot more effective if he someone else of roughly equal strength to spar with. Normally he wouldn't allow anyone to train with him, but the events of a few days ago had opened his eyes up some. He had almost lost his son from the future, he had almost lost everything to Cooler because of his stubborn pride. They should have put everything into killing Cooler right away. He had his son on the way, and he wasn't to die and leave him without a father. His son would grow up to be a strong Saiyan warrior, a Super Saiyan among Super Saiyans. As for himself, he was already powerful by any reasonable standard. How much more powerful could he become with a worthy sparring partner? Only four others were even near his level of power. Kakarot, Gohan, Trunks, and once he was wished back Gohan. "Why are we waiting? We should be headed there now."

"Dad, how come you never mentioned this room in the past?" Gohan asked him.

Goku shrugged at that. "I said, it slipped my mind. Plus, there wasn't really a reason to."

"That information could have saved my world!" Gohan snapped at him. "We could have gotten strong enough to defeat the Androids."

"I am sorry that you didn't have access to the time chamber, but you can't blame me for you not being strong enough to save your future," Goku responded.

"Dad your stupidity left us open to Androids. You could have taught us several useful things like the Kaio-ken or the instant transmission," Gohan responded in a cold voice. Finally, he was getting to vent at his father, something he had wanted to do for over a decade. "You died, and left us to fend for ourselves. We needed you, and you weren't there!"

Goku should his head though. "No, you didn't need me Gohan. You always had the power within you all along. The power you showed against Cooler."

"I didn't know how to access it," Gohan responded.

"Guys, calm down please," Krillin interjected. "Fighting among ourselves won't help us against the Androids. We need to visit the time chamber as soon as possible."

Goku shook his head. "Not not yet."

"Why not, Karkaot? Haven't we delayed long enough? Plan to wait until another threat shows up on our doorstep first?" Vegeta questioned him with scorn in his voice.

"We need to wish back Gohan first," Goku told them.

"To do that, we will have to travel to New Namek as Garlic Jr used the Earth's dragon balls recently," Tien said smoothly picking up the thread. They had discussed this over the last couple of days. At least, they were getting back on track.

"Only you need to go there, Kakarot," Vegeta told his rival. "Or has your instant transmission also slipped your mind?"

Goku shook his head sadly. "I can't just instant transmission there. To do so I need to be able to pick out individual ki signals which I can't. We are going to have to go by spaceship."

"That is a 3 month trip to arrive there and back making it six months," Krillin objected. "We don't have that kind of time." No one had consulted him about this before now.

Goku slapped his forehead in amazement, causing everyone to turn and look at him. "Of course, I will just go visit King Kai, and ask him to talk to the Namekians for us." He gave a big grin as he went on. "And, I can see how well Gohan is getting along. I bet that he is there." He raised two fingers to his forehead.

"Goku, you just can't visit the Lord of Worlds..." Krillin started to answer. But, he tailed off as there was no one to address his comment to.

Goku was gone.

* * *

_King Kai's Planet: Other World: Age 766_

"It doesn't make any sense," Gohan said out loud as he threw his arms up into a cross block to intercept the punch of King Kai. "How can you possibly be this strong?" Despite blocking the punch, the young Super Saiyan was still driven two steps backwards. At first the increased gravity had bothered him, but his body had quickly adjusted to it, allowing him to perform at max capacity. And it still didn't matter.

They trained for 20 hours a day, training that thus far had resulted in Gohan getting his butt handed to him the entire time. Whenever he wanted a break, King Kai reminded him that they had a limited time before he got wished back. They needed to make the most of it. He also spoke of greater threats than Gohan could possibly imagine out there, threats that Gohan needed special training to be able to overcome.

The North Kai smiled as he retracted the punch. "You don't think we got to be the Lords of the Universe by being weak did you?"

"But, you could have crushed Frieza easily," Gohan said disbelief running through his voice. He ducked under the next punch, counting with a kick that King Kai intercepted by raising a forearm to block. The force of the block sent tremors running up Gohan's leg.

Even as a Super Saiyan, he couldn't land a solid hit on King Kai. "Why didn't you kill Frieza? You could have ended the threat so easily."

"Yes, without breaking a sweat," King Kai confirmed to him. "But, we have vows not to interfere with the lower worlds." As he spoke he continued to keep the young Super Saiyan on the defensive.

"But you're...interfering...now," Gohan gasped out. Even with a dead body that didn't need rest, all of this intense fighting was beginning to take a toll on Gohan. He endured it because he knew he needed to get stronger. This body was a lot more durable than his living one, allowing him to take him hits that would have put him out, and walk away from energy blasts that should have killed him outright. It still gained power in the usual way though, through training, and through having his butt handed to him.

King Kai connected with a kick that send Gohan skidding across the small planet. "We can't interfere directly unless there is a situation of extreme need. We can however train those that we can consider worthy. Your father was the first one to ever learn my Kaio-ken technique, for example. He has the ability to master new skills very quickly. I wonder if you have the same ability." He raised his hands up an began to charge a blue energy blast in each hand. "If you can't deflect these like I showed you yesterday, you are going to be in for a world of hurt. These won't kill you, but they will make you feel as if you are dead," he paused to see if Gohan got his pun. "Get it? Feel as if you are dead. I crack myself up sometimes," he said with a chuckle.

Picking himself up off the ground, Gohan braced himself for the incoming energy blasts. He had to deflect them after seeing how it was done only once? That didn't seem fair at all.

As he was about to fire, King Kai felt his left antenna twitch. Lowing his hands he allowed the energy gathered between them to dissipate. "We are about to have company. Your father, I believe."

Gohan dropped his guard and began to scan the area for his father. "How did he die?"

"He didn't," King Kai answered him.

No more needed to be said as Goku choose that moment to appear. He looked around, spotting Gohan and running over to him to embrace him in a hug as he lifted him up into the air. "Wow! Gohan I can feel how strong you have gotten. And, in just a few days."

"Hi, daddy!" Gohan said as he returned the hug. After Goku put him down, the mood became more sober quickly. "You're not dead, so why are you here?"

"I came to ask King Kai a favor, Gohan. I would like him to talk to the Namekians about wishing you back."

Gohan frowned at that. It wasn't that he didn't want to be wished back because he does, but it was too soon. He still had more he needed to learn, more training to do here. "I can't. Not yet, daddy."

This caused Goku to frown. He was pretty sure why Gohan was saying this. How the hell was he going to explain this to Chi-Chi though? "Okay, why not, Gohan? You can train just as well with us." A smile lit up as his face as he continued, "There is this great room...well it's a chamber really, where you and I can get a year's worth of training in a single day. Want to know the best part of that, Gohan?"

"The choice is his, Goku," King Kai interjected.

"But, he's a minor. He can't legally make choices," Goku said flipping one of Chi-Chi's arguments on King Kai. They always seemed to work for Chi-Chi.

"If you were on Earth, sure I would agree with you. You are on my planet though. That means my rules go. Gohan gets to stay if he wants," King Kai countered. "Besides, the dragon balls won't bring him back if he is not ready to return as you should well know Goku," he told him, referring to the time after Namek where Goku opted to stay in space rather than be returned home by the dragon balls.

"Wait," Gohan said. "King Kai, I want to know about when you had to interfere directly. Your answer implied that it had happened in the past." Gohan had been warned about vague threats more powerful than any he had faced in his young life, more powerful than he was capable of even considering, and he wanted to know more about these threats.

King Kai sighed. He had been hoping to avoid having this conversation at all. Gohan needed to focus on the Androids, and the threats directly impacting his planet, not about threats that might or might not appear in his lifetime. "The last time was a tyrant named Bojack. I had to step in because if I didn't then nothing in the universe could have stopped him."

"Were you able to stop him, King Kai?" Goku asked, as he joined the conversation. This Bojack sounded really powerful. Part of Goku wished to be able to fight someone that powerful.

"He was really powerful, much more powerful then I was at the time," King Kai admitted to them.

"So, how did you stop him?" Gohan questioned.

"Getting together with the other Kai's we cast a spell that sealed Bojack and his gang away."

Gohan blinked at the news that King Kai could cast a spell. "Where did you seal him up?"

"Inside a jar maybe, like we tried to do with Demon King Piccolo," Goku wondered out loud.

"No, something that weak wouldn't hold a power like Bojack," King Kai told them. "As for where, that isn't any of your concern."

"What if he gets free?" Gohan questioned.

"That is impossible. Now, focus on training for what you can train for which is the Androids."

"Hey!" Goku said drawing both of their attentions back his way. He stood with two fingers pressed to his forehead. "I can sense things much clearer up here. I know where New Namek is. Be right back, Gohan."

Again Goku vanished before either of them could say a word of protest about it.

"Should have never taught him instant transmission. What were they thinking?" King Kai muttered.

"You know instant transmission, King Kai?" Gohan questioned him.

"Of course, I know instant transmission. How do you think I get around?" King Kai said, indignation clear in his voice.

"Then, why didn't you bring dad directly to the check in station before the Saiyans arrive?" Gohan questioned him. He still remembered the horror of that day as they had to face the Saiyans alone. He still remembered how Piccolo sacrificed himself to save him. His power level rocketed back up as he recalled those horrible moments. Piccolo was always sacrificing himself to save him. He had done it then, and he had done it again in the future timeline. Piccolo! Gohan felt like an idiot. He had been up here for a few days and never once had he asked King Kai to try and find Piccolo. He would have to ask him later after they wrapped out their training for today.

"I..." King Kai stammered. "I was busy training him and with a billion other things. Running a galaxy is busy work. I can't be expected to remember ever little detail about everything."

"Can you teach me instant transmission, King Kai?"

King Kai gave Gohan a considering look. "I don't know Gohan; it isn't an easy technique to learn. And, we Kais prefer to limit the number of mortals that know it."

This confused Gohan as it didn't mesh with what his dad had told him about his space travels. "But, there is an entire planet full of people that know it," he pointed out.

"That is the mortal version. We taught it to them as a way of saying thank you for the great services they preformed for the Kai's."

"Mortal version?" Gohan inquired. "There is a different version than the one that my dad knows?"

"Yes, the version that I use doesn't require locking onto a power level. You simply will yourself to the location that you want to be," King Kai explained to him.

Gohan was silent for long moments as he considered how useful that would be in combat. _That would be a hell of an edge to be able to spring on the other fighter._ "Can you teach that to me? Please, King Kai?" he pleaded.

"It is not meant to be in the hands of mortals, Gohan," King Kai replied. "It is one of the techniques only known to the Kai's. You haven't proven yourself worthy of knowing such a thing." Then, he considered again. "However.."

One second, Gohan felt his hopes get crushed as he was told no. Then, out of nowhere King Kai left open the chance that he could be convinced to change his mind. Thinking quickly, Gohan made the best offer he could. "Please, I will swear to anything you want if you teach me you."

"Understand, Gohan, that any contract you make with a Kai, is a contract that can never be broken. If I ask you to swear on something, and you agree to do that thing, you can't back out of it. I can call in the debt at any point. You are literally swearing on your soul. And, unlike in your Earth legal system, you don't get to plead that you were too young to legally enter into a contract. So, I want you to really consider your next words. Consider if you still think that what you want to learn is worth me having that sort of hold on you."

Gohan was silent for long minutes as he worked through the possible situations in his head, just as Piccolo had taught him to do. While swearing on his soul would upset his mom, it didn't bother him. He didn't need a condition like that to keep his word. His parents had taught him to always be honest and upfront. Also for the life of him, he couldn't see what horrible thing King Kai could make him swear to that would outweigh the value of knowing this ability. He would even be able to one up his father for once. "I believe I am ready to learn it, King Kai," he finally responded.

King Kai nodded at that. "Very well. Here is what I want. You are aware that I can't directly interfere, but that doesn't mean that I can't request that warriors intervene for me. I want you to swear that I can call upon you to fight battles that I believe are important to the fate of the galaxy, and that you will drop whatever you are doing and will respond to my call. Swear this and I will teach you what you wish to know."

Gohan spent a few moments going through the terms given to him. He couldn't find anything that his father would be upset about in them. Chances were that if he requested help that Gohan would go anyway, so what harm could come in swearing to respond? "How do I swear to this, King Kai?"

"All you have to do is repeat this. I promise on my soul to meet the terms of my agreement with the North Kai." He paused. "There is one other thing as well. You can't pass this information on to another other fighter. This technique is for you and you alone."

"I promise on my soul to meet the terms of my agreement with the North Kai," Gohan repeated. He waited a bit after that. Strange, he didn't feel any different. "So now what happens, King Kai?"

"Nothing ... until I call upon you. I will teach your our form of instant transmission; we call it instant movement, but first your father is about to return," King Kai informed him.

Sure enough moments later Goku returned. He was wearing a frown on his face.

"What did they say on New Namek, dad?" Gohan asked his father.

"They said that they can't wish you back for three months. It will take that long for their dragon balls to recharge."

Gohan walked over and gave his dad a hug. "It's okay, daddy. I have special training that I need from King Kai here anyway."

"We were planning on going into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber right away, but we will wait until you return," Goku assured him.

Once it was explained to him, Gohan nodded. "We will want to wait on Piccolo anyway," he commented. Speaking of Piccolo, he needed to ask King Kai about him. "King Kai do you know where Piccolo is? He wasn't on Earth, and he didn't seem to be in the Dead Zone. Did he die?" But if he had died, Kami would have died as well. Surely, Piccolo would be here training as well.

"I don't know, but I can find out," King Kai responded. Focusing he reached out to Lord Yemma. "Lord Yemma, has one called Piccolo passed through your check in station?"

"No, he has not," came the almost instant response. "Shall I alert you if he does?" Lord Yemma asked King Kai.

"Yes, please do that," King Kai responded. "Okay, he is not dead. I will look elsewhere for him."

Gohan breathed a sigh of relief to find that Piccolo wasn't dead. He hadn't failed him yet. And, he wasn't going to either.

A frown appeared on the face of King Kai as he continued to scan the North Galaxy for any signs of Piccolo. He started on Earth and worked his way outward. Ten minutes later he had completed his scan. "I don't know this is possible, but it seems that Piccolo is neither dead, nor is he anywhere that I can locate him."

Gohan clinched his fists at that. Had they left him in the Dead Zone? Had Garlic Jr lied to them about being able to sense his energy in there? "King Kai, would you know if he was in the Dead Zone?"

"Yes. And he isn't. It is like he has vanished completely."

"Is it possible that he is suppressing his ki?" Goku asked.

"Not from me he can't. If he was here, I would be able to locate him. Mortals can't hide their ki signals from Gods," King Kai explained.

"Then, where in Kami's name is he?" Gohan asked him.

"I really don't know," King Kai responded. "I will ask around, and if I am able to locate him, I will pass that information on to you. That is the best that I can do right now."

That would have to do, Gohan knew. That didn't mean that he had to like it. "Thank you."

King Kai turned to Goku. "You need to head back to the world of the living. You have overstayed your welcome. You need to say your goodbyes. This planet is meant for the training of dead warriors. You were not invited to train here at this moment."

"Am I allowed to come by and visit from time to time?" Goku asked King Kai. "I want to see my son still."

"Yes because of you great service in defense of the North Galaxy, you can come visit Gohan from time to time." King Kai decided. "However don't push your luck."

Goku walked over to Gohan, lifting him up in a hug. "Gohan, I want you to listen to me," he began.

"Yes, daddy?" Gohan responded.

"Focus completely on your training while you here. Put everything else aside. Listen, there are forms beyond the regular Super Saiyan form. I want you to try and discover them for yourself. We will be doing the same back on Earth. I know you can do it because the you from the future did it."

"I will try, daddy."

"Don't try, do it. Chances are you will be going into the HTC with me when you return, and I want you up to speed."

"Yes, daddy."

Goku put Gohan down, ruffling his hair. "Good boy." His face turned serious. "Listen, I will visit as often as I can, but I can't make any promises for the next little while. We are going to finish the job that we should have after I beat Frieza on Namek. The Planetary Trade Organization is too dangerous to allow to stay intact. I see that now."

Gohan nodded at that. "Okay daddy, see you soon."

"You will," Goku promised as he placed two fingers on his forehead. He vanished as he waved with his other hand.

* * *

_A/N: Hello everyone, this was a long chapter, but several important events happened._

_First and foremost, Cooler is dead. How can an immortal die though? The answer to that lies in the fact that the power of the dragon is limited by its creator. While the Namekian dragon balls are more powerful than the Earth version, they are still not powerful enough to make Cooler truly immortal. It is possible to overwhelm the power of the dragon balls, and with the combined efforts of the Z-Fighters, backed up by the energy of an Ascended Super Saiyan, and Coolers own energy wave hitting him together, enough power was finally produced to kill him so that the magic of the dragon is unable to pull his body back together. His soul is stuck on Earth, unable to go to Other World as it has no vessel to travel in. _

_The amount of power needed to kill an immortal is relative to the amount of battle power (ki) that the immortal has. In other words the stronger the immortal the greater the amount of power that is needed to kill said immortal. I should note that the combined power of the energy wave that finally killed Cooler, was more than enough to kill him, by a large amount. It isn't an exact power required and it doesn't scale upwards. The power is either enough to do the job or it isn't._

_Second, as you saw in this chapter the North Kai is much stronger than his canon counterpart. I made this change for a series of reasons. I always found it puzzling that the Kai's were so weak considering that they are Gods. So I redesigned their power scale. All of this ties into events that are happening now, and will continue to happen later on in the story. I have plans to explore the back story of the Kai's in greater detail. I won't say more now to avoid spoilers._

_Third, a bit about the power levels of the Kai's. The four directional Kai's (North, South, East, West) each have a power level of one billion. Of the four, only North Kai can use Kaio-ken to boost his power. He has not however fully mastered the use of the Kaio-ken himself, even though he created it. This is both because of the great power already flowing through his veins, and because he isn't motivated to train unless he is training someone._

_Forth, Future Gohan finally reached the level of Ascended Super Saiyan. He was able to do it here, when he wasn't able to do it in canon. He needed the little bit of extra push, and the death of his past self, combined with the seeming death of Trunks gave it to him. Also he needed the knowledge that another level beyond Super Saiyan existed. Watching his past self in an earlier chapter gave him the inkling that it was possible, but it wasn't until that moment that he put everything together. Having the knowledge alone isn't enough, a Saiyan needs some sort of push to get them to the next level. In canon for Vegeta, that push was losing to Android 18 as badly as he did. He knew that the power of the Super Saiyans couldn't be limited to that, and he was willing to go through anything to give himself that extra power._

_Now on to how the Ascended Super Saiyan works in my power level system._

_The Ascended Super Saiyan form provides a boost of plus 375 million to whatever the base power of the Saiyan is. It also removes the previous limits on the growth of the power in the base form, allowing their base power to grow again up to the limits of this form. I won't spoil what those limits are just yet though. _

_This form is 50% of FPSSJ (Full Power Super Saiyan) at the cost of a small amount of speed, because of increased muscle mass. Usually this reduced speed isn't noticeable, unless fighting against a more agile foe of roughly equal power. Maintaining this form takes a great toll on the body as it uses energy a lot faster than the standard SSJ form does. As with the first level of the Super Saiyan form it can't be stacked with the Kaio-ken._

_A note on this: As most of you know, this isn't a second level of the Super Saiyan form, instead it is simply the next step after the Super Saiyan has trained their body enough in the basic Super Saiyan form. _

_Furthermore, unlocking this form isn't required in order to become a Full Powered Super Saiyan. Gohan in canon is never shown to be able to become an Ascended Saiyan, instead he jumps right to a Full Powered Super Saiyan. We don't know exactly why this is, but I think it has something to do with his age and size. His body was likely not equipped to handle the strain that the Ascended Super Saiyan form puts on the body._

_Also, please review. Reviews feed my fire so that I want to write more and bring out chapters quicker. I am getting a lot of follows and favorites, which I enjoy seeing in my inbox, but I am not getting a lot of reviews each chapter. Please if you enjoy my story enough to follow or favorite it, take a moment to review it. Each review means a lot to me. I strive to respond to each review, either through PM or at the end of my next chapter._

_I have Chapter 9 nearly ready to go, and it will be posted much faster if I get a lot of reviews on this chapter._

* * *

_A/N 2: I also updated chapters two and five, taking a scene from chapter five and sticking it at the end of the chapter two. I did this to make the story make more sense._

* * *

_Reviews_

_Son of Whitebeard_

_GREAT TIMELINE PERSPECTIVES_

**Thank you. I think having two timelines going at once can increase the drama in the story. Of course sometimes there are reasons to focus entirely in a single timeline as I did in this chapter.**

_Ky111_

_Fantastic chapter and I didn't see Piccolo winding up in the future coming, it's a great twist and I'm looking forward to what's going to happen with Piccolo and the future timeline and now Cell has also made his appearance (will he end up in the past due to Piccolo rather than killing Trunks and stealing the time machine, will Piccolo end up destroying the Future Timeline Androids or will Cell get to them first and there are plenty more possibilities and I look forward to seeing what you do)._

Also present Gohan dieing and interested in how that is going to play out and will Gohan perhaps get some special training while in Otherworld or will he be wished back to fast for that, plus they still need to defeat Cooler before any of this is possible.

Later.

**Piccolo role in the events of the Future Timeline will be explored in great detail in the next chapter.**

**As for how/when/if Cell makes it to the past, that would be spoiling things to tell you, but I will say that if/when it happens it won't be in the manner that many might expect.**

**Present Gohan dying was a huge turning point for the fighters against Cooler. It lead directly to Future Gohan becoming an Ascended Super Saiyan, which lead to the death of Cooler.**

**My plans for Present Gohan do include him getting special training in the Other World as partly shown in this chapter. How much stronger he gets as a result of his training remains to be seen though.**

_Link60fly_

_this is a good chapter and I cant believe gohan died but now goku and future gohan should reach suer sayian 2_

**Thank you! I am sure that Gohan's death was a shock to several readers. It was meant to be as I dropped no hints that it was coming. Goku found himself unable to reach the next level, but Future Gohan was ready to do it. He became an ASSJ as Super Saiyan Two at this point would be overkill, not to mention it would render the entire Android and Cell Saga's pointless.**

_throwaway_

_I'm calling it now, Garlic Jr. is going to become the big gete star._

**A spoiler here (so skip ahead if you don't want to know the answer to this question): This isn't going to happen. For several reasons. First, the Big Gete Star would have to retrieve him from the core of the Sun, which seems tough if not impossible. Second, his body would heal up as soon as he was free from the heat of the Sun, making a Metal Garlic Jr not needed. Third, a Metal Garlic Jr would be far weaker, since he wouldn't be able to gain power from his star. So weak that if he were he to attack New Namek, he could be killed by a Namekian warrior there, and King Kai would never need to contact the Z-Fighters for help. If he battled the Z-Fighters as Metal Garlic Jr, it would be a very short chapter. They could kill him by powering up in a metal form.**

_MetaSquid_

_yeah so I know you might've been joking, but I would definitely not say no to Gohan banging Frieza's mom or better yet, sister.  
It would be the final and biggest nail in His coffin._

Also I think there's a horrible pun in there somewhere.

**My heart isn't frozen enough to even consider putting Gohan through that kind of horror. Seriously though, no it won't be happening. **_**Ever.**_

saiyan angel blue

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCKING WAY im speechless right now

**I did my job then. Thank you, I was looking for that reaction.**

_Guest_

_Nice Story. Keep up the great work!_

**Glad you are enjoying it.**

* * *

_Power Levels_

_Future Gohan: 65,000,000_

_Future Gohan Ascended Super Saiyan: 440,000,000_

_Future Gohan ASSJ Full Power: 448,000,000_

_Cooler: 275,000,000_

_Cooler Full Power: 320,000,000_

_Enraged SSJ Goku: 215,00,000_

_Enraged SSJ Goku + Kamehameha: 245,000,000_

_Enraged SSJ Goku + Ki Infused Kamehameha: 290,000,000_

_Goku worn out: 5,000_

_Vegeta SSJ: 200,000,000_

_Trunks SSJ: 197,000,000_

_Goku SSJ Post Zenkai Boost: 199,000,000_

_Vegeta SSJ + Atomic Blast: 235,000,000_

_Goku SSJ + Kamehameha: 230,000,000_

_Trunks SSJ + Finish Buster: 228,000,000_

_Krillin Kaio-ken Times Forty:50,000,000_

_Tien Kaio-ken Times Forty: 56,000,000_

_Krillin Kaio-ken Times Forty + Kamehameha: 55,000,000_

_Tien Kaio-ken Times Forty + Tri-Beam: 65,000,000_

_Kaio-ken Times Forty Tri-Beam Kamehameha: 120,000,000_

_Combined Power of the Energy Waves that killed Cooler: 1,588,000,000_

_North/King Kai: 1,000,000,000_

_Gohan Post Training Zenkai Boost: 30,000,000_

_Gohan SSJ Post Training Zenkai Boost: 177,000,000_


	9. Chapter 9-Piccolo's Choice

**DI**

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 9- Piccolo's Choice**

* * *

_Disclaimer: Future Piccolo instructed me to tell you that I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT._

* * *

_** "There are only two rules of tactics: never be without a plan, and never rely on it."**_

* * *

_East City: Age 786: Future Timeline_

Piccolo sensed the humans' ki vanishing as he neared the East City. _Damn, I have to hurry if I am going to save anyone. _He pushed his Kaio-ken just slightly in hopes of reaching East City faster and before the Android left. As the city came in view, he slowed down and soon dropped out of flight when the city became a walking distance away. He allowed his Kaio-ken aura to die as he walked. _I don't know much about these Androids so best to keep my energy down. I don't want them to track me by my ki._

"They can't," a voice told him.

That halted Piccolo as he looked around seeing if the source was nearby. Other than the city getting destroyed, nobody was in sight as Piccolo analyzed the voice. It had sounded like him but projected to his head rather than an internal voice. "Who is this?" he asked, hoping that whoever was talking to him could respond.

"Me? I am you," he responded. "The you that resides in this universe. I'm sure you have an idea what happened to me." There was a light chuckle, but it lacked the humor.

Well, Piccolo knew what had happened to his counterpart and also knew about the rules of the Otherworld. "You're going to get in trouble for contacting me. Why?" Piccolo inquired as he entered the city. He kept a close eye on his surroundings for any signs of the Androids. He kept close to buildings for cover.

"It's easier to contact a fellow Namek than any other species and even easier with my counterpart," Future Piccolo told him. "You're correct that I'm on limited time, so I'm going to have to make this quick. Honestly, when I noticed your presence, I couldn't stand to watch you die. Getting killed wasn't a most pleasant experience considering that was my second time. I have watched over Gohan along with Goku when he's not distracted training. The rest check in from time to time to see how Earth is faring. I'm well aware how my death changed Gohan and wished to do something about it. It was frustrating since I'm unable to interfere. With you here, I can bend that rule a bit."

Piccolo thought about what his future self had said. "Bend the rules?How exactly?"

"Yes, I hope to assist you as well as have you pass on some messages to Gohan. My Gohan, mind you. For yours, I'm making sure you stay alive while you are here."

"You shouldn't worry. I am aware of how you died, but I am stronger than you were. I do have a trump card."

"Yes, you have the Kaio-ken, but that won't be enough to end the Android threat. I can help further your power so you have more trump cards against them."

Piccolo was forced to take air when a building near him exploded. "Well, whatever it is, I suggest you hurry. They are close by."

"I can't give it to you now, not when you're so close to danger. This information would be taken from my mind and transferred to yours. In that process, you _can't do anything. _Meaning, you'll be open to be attacked by the Androids. Then, my help would become useless."

Piccolo gritted his teeth as he processed the information. Ignoring his future self would be suicidal since he knew he couldn't take on the Androids on his own power. Not both of them. He was mostly here to stall them. On the other hand, willingly accepting the help meant the towns people are going to suffer more in the hands of the Androids. "How long is this process going to take?" he asked, hoping it would be short enough that he could still take on the Androids for their destructive ways.

Future Piccolo sighed, sounding like he expected the question and had hoped it wasn't going to be asked. "I'm not entirely sure. There's a lot for you to take in, so that may be 3 minutes to 5. I do not know how long after the transfer till you get yourself sorted and ready for the Androids."

A soft growl escaped Piccolo's closed teeth as he scanned the city for amount of people remaining. Luck seemed to be on his side that the Androids were taking a long way to kill everyone. He realized that he couldn't count on them to continue this method till they got bored and blow the city sky-high.

During his conversation, a stray ki blast had hit a nearby school trapping many students and adults. Piccolo saw the building falling and wasted no time flying there. Future Piccolo wisely remain silent as Piccolo swooped in and stopped a large piece of the building from hitting the people below. He felt Future Piccolo using his telekinesis to stop the rest of the falling debris. "Go!" he shouted to the frozen, scared people below as he moved the broken building elsewhere.

As he flew, he realized that Future Piccolo was directing him away from the city. "I haven't made my decision to accept your help," Piccolo told him bitterly, as he dropped the debris on the open area well away from the city.

"Then this is good as any," Future Piccolo replied. "If you go back there, I'll only leave the messages for Gohan to you and leave the rest to fate as you fight the Androids. If you stay and allow me to help, I'll make sure that you can fight the Androids."

"How can you do that?"

"The Otherworld has its advantages." Future Piccolo refused to elaborate any more then that though. "I'm waiting. I can't fully give you this information if you don't willingly open your mind to me."

Piccolo let out an annoyed sigh and floated down. "You better make good on that promise."

"Of course. Make yourself comfortable."

Piccolo at first stood in his usual pose then deciding that his meditative pose would serve better for this purpose. "I'm ready," he notified him as his mind opened up.

"Your safeguards are still up." Future Piccolo didn't need to say more as Piccolo was already lowering them. He concentrated on the information he wished to transfer to his past self and let it flow down the link to Piccolo.

To Piccolo, it felt like someone open the floodgate to his mind. His eyes snapped open but saw nothing as images flashed by. His thoughts were crowded by information that may or may not have anything to do with the images. It was a surreal and painful experience, and it took all of Piccolo's self-discipline to keep the link open.

He remained unaware how long it passed as he received the info from his future self. When it came to a close, he gave himself a much needed breath. Fusing with Nail was much less draining and less headache than this.

"He was giving you power and specific information through fusion which is totally different from what I'm doing," Future Piccolo said, obviously had picked up Piccolo's unguarded thoughts.

"I thought your time is coming to a close?" Piccolo asked as he placed his normal mental defenses up.

"I actually exceeded the time allowed. You don't have much time to recover. The Androids are about done with East City."

"Thanks for the reminder."

"Speaking of reminding, two things: make sure Gohan get those messages and don't fight both Androids at once. You'll lose for sure."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"It's the truth. Use the information well and wisely."

Piccolo smiled as tactical information about the Androids came to his mind. "Thank you, future-self," he sent out.

"Anytime, past-self. Everyone else give you their regards and best wishes," Future Piccolo notified him as he closed the mental link.

Piccolo realized that his battle would be watched even though they couldn't help out more, but the thought didn't bother him. Smirking, he discarded his weighted clothing and cracked his knuckles in anticipation. _This was going to be fun. _Reigniting his aura he flew back towards East City.

* * *

_Somewhere Near East City: Age 786 (Future Timeline)_

Cell was perplexed by Piccolo's behavior. He had followed him to East City but had not seen him engage with the Androids. Confused, he kept hidden in East City and kept track of Piccolo by ki senses. He hoped that Piccolo would return soon. Those Androids were not getting away from him.

As luck would have it, the Androids were still around when Piccolo came back. _Took a ridiculously long time. _Cell had created numerous scenarios of how to approach helping Piccolo out with the Androids that benefits him while waiting. Catching sight of Piccolo, he set himself in motion to better see the situation before entering himself.

Upon entering the city, Piccolo was already searching for the Androids. The city looked worse than before. He had no time to survey the damage as he looked for the duo of chaos. The city was large but mostly flattened, so Piccolo's search took little time in spotting one. That was the male Android, number 17_._ The Android still hadn't spotted him. Piccolo planned on making his first shot count. "Kaio-ken times three," he said softly under his breath. It was risky to push this far due to damage upon his own body, but he needed to make his first attack count. A dark red aura sprung up around him as he felt his power shoot upwards. _But Kami, the strain though._

He could already feel it taking its toil on his body. _How had Goku managed higher levels? _As if by magic, he suddenly knew the answer to that: it was because Goku's base power had been much lower when he pushed to the higher levels._ An understanding of the Kaio-ken must be part of the information that had been imparted to him,_ Piccolo realized. _ That would be very useful later once he had time to sort through everything he had been given. But for now he needed to focus his entire attention on the battle._

Piccolo waited until the Android was directly below him. _Now!_ "Masenko!" he fired a yellow energy wave that struck Android 17 in the back, sending him crashing down into a nearby building. The building shook then collapsed on itself as the Android continued to smash through floors. Panting, Piccolo reduced the level of his Kaio-ken to only times two. He would have to use times three in spurts, he couldn't maintain it and hope to have any stamina in this fight. Keeping his eyes peeled he looked for the other Android. His ears picked up movement behind him and he spun just in time to dodge the first assault of Android 18.

"That was a cheap move," she yelled at him she continued her assault.

"What do you call ambushing all of the helpless people in this city? On this entire planet?" he retorted as he kept dodging her attacks, looking for an opening to counter. In a moment, she was going to conclude her attack pattern by launching a powerful kick, aiming at his left flank. Sure enough, Android 18 launched a kick aimed at his left flank which he already had a block in place for. Shock waves ran up his arm as he felt her foot impact. _She was so strong!_

In that brief moment, she will have pull her leg back which will offset her balance. That was the perfect moment to strike. Piccolo buried his fist in her gut, following it up with a double ax handle that sent her crashing into the street.

Again, his finely tuned senses allowed him to sense the attack coming in from below him. He dodged shooting forward to land on the roof of one of the buildings that were still standing. Android 17 landed across from him, his shirt partly torn from the earlier damage. "That wasn't very nice. What have we done to you?" The Android did a double take as his computer came up with a match. "But how? I remember killing you! How are you still alive?"

Piccolo smiled. "Let's just say that not everything is as it seems." He blasted off the roof, charging at 17. Being right-handed, Android 17 favored his left side on defense. This imbalance left him open on his right side. As Piccolo predicted, Android 17 entered a stance that created a strong defense in the direction that Piccolo was charging. Piccolo waited until the last possible moment to switch direction. He launched a kick that passed right below the defenses of Android 17 and sent him staggering backwards. He followed up on his opening by launching another Masenko wave at the Android. This one impacted point blank and launched the Android back into the air.

Recovering quickly, Android 17 charged forward with his fist ready. Piccolo threw up a guard against it. He managed to withstand the force of Android 17's punch but ended up being driven backwards. Watching for another moment to strike, Piccolo contented himself with remaining on the defensive for now. Although he was doing little real damage to the Androids, he was keeping them off balance, and stalling for time. He was doing a great job of being able to engage only one of them at a time.

That was about to change however.

* * *

_Frieza Planet 168: Age 766: One Month After the Death of Past Gohan: Past Timeline_

Future Gohan barely gave the dead soldier a glance as he tossed him aside, adding more to the hallway littered with dead bodies. It was a great way to blow off steam he had pent up inside as continued forward. To the soldiers of Frieza, it was like watching a demon slaughtering indiscriminately. He continued forward, killing any that got close.

"Get back in battle formation!" their commander snapped as he tapped his scouter rapidly. Battle power of 5,000...but that was impossible! All of their weapons were capable of dealing out ki blasts of a greater power, and this Saiyan had just dispatched the best fighter on the planet, whom had a power level of 25,000. "Who are you?" he asked as his voice trembled in fear.

"Your worst nightmare," Future Gohan replied, wasting no time in pleasantry. Wanting to get the job done faster, he turned Super Saiyan, blowing off any that was too close. Ignoring everyone in the room, he charged an energy blast as he took aim. He was already aware of what effect he would have done to the city, but he doesn't care. In his mind, they deserved it.

Firing the blast, Future Gohan turned away without bothering to watch the results, lifting up into the air and heading back to the spaceship. Behind him, he heard a voice as another warrior joined him.

"You see, Kakarot? You son from the future knows what he's doing. A true Saiyan warrior strikes without mercy and regard for anything but his mission."

Goku huffed at his comment and said, "Sounds like something Frieza would say for all of his soldiers. I would have tried mercy when I know some of them relished this while others don't. I don't have time to try and figure out who's who. If anyone that needs this, it's Future Gohan. I don't have the honor of doing this in his stead."

Vegeta laughed. "Mercy. Yeah, you did give me mercy. I have no need of it."

"Yes because you're so totally destroying Earth now," Future Gohan commented coldly. He had heard of their conversation and could tell that Goku was getting tired of Vegeta's bullshit. Vegeta had made him come along when he rather not. Goku wasn't keen on being educated on how to be a Saiyan regardless of his acceptance of his own heritage.

They arrived to the ship where Krillin was telling Tien a story that caused the 3 eyed human to smile. Trunks was inside the ship, assisting Bulma in prepping it for liftoff.

"We're wasting time," Gohan growled. "Why are we going from one planet at a time and clearing it of Frieza's army when we could cut directly to the source?"

"Either that or we need to acquire more ships and split up. It should be pretty safe for each of us to handle a planet. It is unlikely that we will encounter anything like the threats we have faced on Earth out there," Tien commented.

Vegeta considered that for a moment. "I do know the location of the home planet of Frieza and Cooler. But others of his race live there," he warned the others. "They could prove problematic in the numbers that we will be encountering them. Especially the ones capable of transforming." Daily training with Goku, Future Gohan and Trunks had broadened Vegeta's prospective the value of working within a true group. He was making massive strides forward in power because of them, and in return he only had to share his knowledge of Frieza's empire. That was more than a fair trade.

"Not if we blow up their planet from space," Future Gohan commented.

Everyone turned to look at Future Gohan in shock.

"They are every bit as bad as the Androids. They deserve no mercy from us," he explained.

"But to blow up an entire planet from space. That kills the innocents as well," Goku protested.

"There are no innocents in war Kakarot, even you should understand that by now," Vegeta scolded his rival. "Everyone on that planet deserves death. They kill your son, you should be enraged beyond belief."

"I am, but this isn't the right way," Goku stated with conviction in his voice. . "If we just go around wiping out entire planets then we are no better than they are."

Tien decided to get the conversation back on track by stepping in. "Will we win if we attack their planet directly, limiting our strikes to military targets Vegeta?"

Vegeta considered for a moment. "Yes, I believe so. But it won't be an easy fight, especially for you and the midget. The rest of us should be fine as Super Saiyans."

Tien and Krillin exchanged looks. "We will be fine. We can handle ourselves in a fight," Krillin assured the others.

"So it's agreed than, we land and take the fight directly to them?" Future Gohan questioned the others.

One by one everyone nodded, Vegeta being the last to do so.

* * *

_East City: Age 786: Future Timeline_

Piccolo knew that he was in trouble when Android 18 joined her brother in the struggle against him. What he didn't know was how much trouble he was in. He was rapidly finding out though now as he attempted to block their twin assaults. Even with the detailed knowledge of the fighting styles of the Androids, he was being overpowered by their one-two punch. The words of his future self ran through his mind as he was sent pummeling through the ground. "Don't try to fight both of them at once. You're not ready."

"How is he still alive?" 17 asked his sister.

"I don't know. I remember killing him, and he is a lot stronger now. I have to try now to beat him," 18 replied.

Both Androids watched for Piccolo to emerge.

"Should we kill him?" Android 18 asked her twin brother.

"If we do, we are spoiling a lot of fun. We haven't heard from our blond friends in a long time," Android 17 replied.

"Well, I want to make sure of..." She trailed off as a giant green hand shot out of the ground, snatching her out of the air and dragging her into the hole that Piccolo was currently hiding in. In moments, she had vanished completely underground.

"18!" Android 17 yelled out as he flew towards the area where 18 had disappeared. When he landed, he looked into the hole. Nothing. They were both gone.

Underground, Android 18 was being slammed through a wall. As she rolled back to her feet, she saw an incoming energy wave. Throwing her up her guard, she blocked the incoming wave, bouncing it back at Piccolo.

Which is exactly what he knew she would do. Smiling, he launched an even large energy wave at her, engulfing the energy wave that was being bounced at him. He expanded the size of his wave until it appeared to fill the room. The wave hit the female Android head on.

Piccolo took the few long moments granted to him by his energy wave to begin to charge his Special Beam Cannon. After charging it, he moved his hand to his side.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Android 18 to be unharmed, encased in a pink barrier. "You can't hurt me, Piccolo," she told him "Sure, you're stronger now, but we beat you once before, and we will do so again." She gave him an evil grin. "Your energy attacks are useless. You can't break through my Android barrier."

"Maybe not, but this can. Special Beam Cannon!" Piccolo told her as he fired the purple energy beam directly at her. _This was going to work; he could feel it!_

Android 18 didn't even flinch as the Special Beam Cannon bore down on her. Just as it was about to strike her, she smacked it away with her left hand. "Idiot, I told you can't hope to beat me like that. You tried that last time, and it didn't work then. Why did you think it would work now? You have some power its true, but I have fought much more powerful foes." She started to walk forward. "Now are you ready to die...again? If that is the best you can do, I don't even need my brother to help in killing you."

_How had that not worked? She should have been caught off guard by his move. _Then it registered that his future self had tried this tactic._ Of course he had. Damn it. It was time to run, and live to fight another day._ "Kaio-ken times three!" he said as a darker red aura sprung up around him.

"It doesn't matter what color you make your aura," 18 told him. "White, blue, yellow, red, I have seen them all and beaten them all."

Piccolo raised his hands upwards. _It was time to leave._ "Masenko!" He blew another hole through the ground, allowing him an escape route. But as he rose to fly off, he felt a hand grab his leg, slamming him back to the ground. That was followed up by a kick to his chest that sent him flying backwards and through another wall.

"You leave when I say you can leave. We aren't done playing yet. In fact, we haven't even started," Android 18 informed him. "You have ruined my clothes. Do you know how hard it is to find this outfit anymore? They stopped making them for some reason."

"Maybe it's because...you're a murdering bitch...and no wants to wear what you wear," Piccolo replied between bouts of coughing up purple blood.

That got him an energy blast to the face as Android 18 approached him. Stunned, Piccolo could only watch death approach. _Wonderful, this fight was going just wonderful. _Why had he even engaged them at all? Now, he was going lose Gohan again. Unless, he managed to gain the focus to shift away, but he needed a few minutes to do that. Minutes that she clearly wasn't going to give him. He struggled back to his feet. If he was going to die, he was going to die on his feet. Grinning, he shifted back into his demon fighting stance.

"What the hell are you smiling about, Piccolo?" 18 questioned him. "I am going to wipe that smirk off your face before I let you die." Springing forward, she punched him in the face, catching him before he fell. Keeping a tight grip around his neck, she grabbed his right arm. Applying more pressure, she ripped his right arm clean off. Smiling herself, she started to beat him with his own arm.

The blows didn't really hurt, but he was already losing blood from missing an arm. Plus, she had grabbed his neck slowly crushing his windpipe. _No! I won't go out like this. I won't put Gohan through the pain of losing me a second time. _"I won't...I won't," he muttered to himself. Power began to surge through his body.

"You won't what?" Android 18 asked him. "Have you already started to lose your mind from the pain?" she questioned with a laugh. "Well, we can't have that. Don't want you not to able to experience every bit of the pain that you're due." She tossed him aside as she spoke. "Go ahead and regrow your arm. I will wait. I remember you doing that from our first battle."

_What the hell was going on?_ Piccolo wondered._ Where was this power coming from? _It wasn't that his ki was growing. No, it was a different sort of power; his body was changing somehow._ This...it must be from the knowledge that his future self had given me, but I need to heal myself if I am going to survive long enough to figure out what this new power was._ Climbing back to his feet, he focused on regrowing his arm. A new right arm shot out of his socket, covered in purple blood and goo. _Now for the rest of my body. If she was going to give me the time I was going to use it._ Slowly, the wounds on the rest of his body closed up.

Piccolo knew that something was off. He should feel tired after healing this much, but instead, the power raged through his body as strong as ever. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement as Android 18 charged forward again._ It would be great to be able to get back above ground where I could find my chance to escape._ some corner of his mind noted as he got ready for her charge.

Android 18 swung for his face only to find that Piccolo wasn't there anymore. _What the hell? How did he move so fast? And where is he? He must be behind me._ She spun around her guard raised. Piccolo wasn't there, however. She looked up above her. No hole that he could have escaped from._ How did he get past me? He must be hiding._ Spinning she blasted the nearest possible hiding place, reducing it to rubble. Still no Piccolo. She would flush him out if she had to. "Hiding won't help you Piccolo! You are just prolonging how long it will take for you to die by angering me further," she growled at him.

Piccolo blinked as the landscape around him changed. One second, he was underground, the next he was in midair. He looked down to get a bearing on where he was. Broken and blasted buildings were below him. The damage looked fresh, and a few of the buildings were still burning. This was still East City then. 17 must have gone on a rampage after he dragged his sister underground. _Where was Android 17 anyway?_ Piccolo flew up higher, trying to spot the Android from the air. Suddenly, he felt a kick impact his back. Flipping around he saw Android 17 floating above him.

"I had the same idea, you know. Get up high, so that I could watch for you and my sister, to see when you escaped from the underground," 17 remarked. "Only I only see you. Where is my sister?"

"I don't know," Piccolo told him honestly. "One moment, we were fighting underground. The next, I am here. I don't know how it happened." This new power was still flowing through his veins. He felt an urge inside to thrust his hands forward, and he did so. His hands glowed with a red aura as he did so. Piccolo looked at his hands with amazement. He hadn't activated the Kaio-ken. Wait, this wasn't the Kaio-ken it was something different.

17 had started to charge forward, but he pulled up when he saw Piccolos hands. _Well this was something new. Piccolos hands were on fire, but he wasn't burning from it. Was this some sort of new energy attack?_ Android 17 decided not to take chances. When they had fought before one on one, Piccolo had held his own. Best to wait for his sister to reappear and then they could finish him off together.

Piccolo was too distracted by the fact that the flames on his hands had changed to black, and that they were spreading across his entire body, to notice that Android 17 had shifted into a defensive stance. Yet he felt no heat, he felt no pain. _This all felt so right somehow. This must be part of what future me imparted to me, _Piccolo reasoned_. Either that or my mind has snapped and I am going crazy from the pain._

_Now his entire body was wreathed in black flames. What the hell was Piccolo doing? _Android 17 wondered._ This was one of the strangest things I had ever seen._ "Whatever you are trying Piccolo, it's not going to work. You can't kill us. We are immortal, we are perfect, and what we say goes."

Upon hearing that, the black flames on Piccolos body burned darker._ Are these flames a reflection of my inner darkness? My inner anger?_ Piccolos eyes lit up as he thought about that. "Enough standing around. Are you ready to pay for your crimes Android?" Thrusting his hands forward he focused. A black fireball formed between his hands.

Behind him, the ground burst open as Android 18 blasted her way out. Looking up she noticed that Piccolo and her brother were facing off in the sky and...Piccolo was covered in black flames that seemed to burn brightly despite being black. "Your mine, Piccolo!" she yelled out as she rose into the sky. "17, back off, he is mine to kill."

Piccolo spun around, firing the black fireball directly at her. He shouldn't be there when the fireball hit, some part of his mind knew. If he could teleport to safety once, surely he could it again. Looking down he noticed a smaller building still standing. That roof, that would be enough distance away. Focusing Piccolo saw the world around him shimmer once again.

Android 17 had had enough. First, Piccolo fired this flaming black energy ball thing at his sister, then he had vanished just as suddenly as he had appeared. "Get out of the way 18," he instructed her. "Don't let it hit you." He scanned the sky for Piccolo as he spoke. When he saw nothing he began to scan the ground, keeping one eye on his sister.

18 waved off his concern as the black fireball sped towards her. She raised her pink Android Barrier. "He can't hurt me," she told her brother as the fireball struck her Android Barrier.

Piccolo stepped back into the shadows of the rooftop to watch the results of this unknown technique. As he expected, he watched Android 18 raise her Android Barrier. It wouldn't be enough, and he knew without knowing how he knew. Not this time. This wasn't a normal energy attack that could be defected like that.

Android 18 laughed as the fireball struck her Android Barrier. _When were these fighters going to learn that nothing could get through that barrier? _She waited for the expected explosion that happened whenever an attack hit her Android Barrier. Her laughter cut off as the black fireball struck her instead. A look of disbelief crossed her face as she was struck. Her clothes caught on fire as the flames ate them away. She felt her flesh cooking from the heat. _How?_ she questioned as she tried to push away the pain. _How is this possible? It's still up._

"18!" her brother screamed as he watched his sister turn into a giant black fireball; a fireball that was falling rapidly towards the ground. _Somehow, the attack had gone through the Android Barrier she had raised up to intercept it_. No longer looking for Piccolo, Android 17 dove after his sister. _It couldn't end like this it couldn't! No weakling fighter was going to take his sister away from him._

From his hiding place, Cell watched the sudden turn of events in amazement. He had been ready to step in when Android 18 had made her reappearance. Now, she was a fireball that was heading for the ground, and Piccolo only had to deal with Android 17 now. _Is__ it possible that I would have to step in to save the Androids from Piccolo's wrath? Where had he gotten this kind of power?_

Piccolo smiled as he looked down at his body in wonder. The black flames still engulfed him. It was having an entire other aura on top of his regular one. Could he stack this with the Kaio-ken? He focused and activated the basic level of the Kaio-ken. The flames didn't go away as his aura expanded outward. Instead, they mixed in with the Kaio-ken dark red aura. _ This was simply incredible. Who would have thought that my future self had mastered this kind of diverse powers?_

Android 17 caught his screaming sister before she could hit the ground. This proved to not be the wisest of ideas as he felt the flames engulfing her body spread to his. _ Water, we needed some kind of water. The nearest body of water was...no wait, there had been a water tower that they had passed on the way here. _ Ignoring the pain as much as possible, Android 17 flew top speed towards that water tower. _Once 18 was settled, he would return to crush Piccolo for daring to harm his sister._ Within two minutes, they had reached the water tower. In that time, the flames had spread up his arms. He crash landed into the water tower with a loud boom as the water around them boiled up from the heat. He made sure that his sister hit the water first. They both sank to the bottom and stayed there for long moments.

Piccolo started to give chase but stopped when he saw that he wasn't going to be able to catch Android 17. He landed back on the roof and waited, taking stock of all that had happened. Quite frankly, he had already done better than he ever expected to do._ Maybe I should leave and figure out the full extent of my powers. _Yet he couldn't go. Not when he had the chance to end this threat to the future once and for all. Even if they returned, surely they would be weakened while he felt no weaker for all of the fighting that he had done today_._

Cell watched the Androids fly off for the moment._ They would be back,_ he knew_._ He had been observing them from a distance for a while now, waiting on his chance._ They wouldn't allow this insult to them to stand. They would be back to attempt to kill Piccolo. _When they returned he would step in. _Piccolo surely wouldn't have a chance as they would be fighting him completely seriously. Piccolo just had to stall one of them though, while he absorbed the other. He had proven quite capable of that._

Android 18 gasped for air as her head broke the surface of the water._ Great, now I'm all wet on top of everything else. At least, the flames were out._ She turned to see her brother also shot up to the surface. "Thank you, 17," she told her twin.

"No problem, sis," he gasped out. "How are you feeling?"

"Pissed off and ready to smash his face in," she responded.

"We will don't worry," he assured her, "but first, we need to make sure you're okay."

Android 18 took stock of herself. Parts of her body were burned through, exposing metal circuits in places, but her limbs were all in good working order. "I will be fine. Let's do this already." She noticed with a small grin that although most of her clothes were gone, enough remained to cover all of the important parts. _Figures that he would make the underclothes more durable._

"I don't feel fine," Android 17 noted as they rose out of the water. "My hands are all burned and so are my forearms. This is the most damaged we have ever been."

"Which is why he has to pay."

"Agreed. When we get back, no more playing around or arguing over who gets to kill him."

"He's so dead," Android 18 agreed as they flew back towards East City.

* * *

Piccolo got no warning as the world exploded around him. The Androids had returned. As he dodged energy blasts, Piccolo realized that Androids were simply trying to flush him out. They weren't aiming with knowledge of his location._ At this rate, there wouldn't be any place left to hide._ He threw his arms up to block as the Androids spotted his location, sending two huge energy waves his way. _This looked bad._

Before the twin energy waves could reach him, another figure blurred in front of them. A giant green insect looking creature batted the energy waves away using his tail.

"Who the hell are you?" Piccolo questioned him as he rose up into the air to join him.

"I am known as Cell." The creature held up a hand to stop his next question. "I am here to join you in ridding the world of the Androids. I didn't have enough power to do it alone, but with you fighting by my side, I am sure that we can win. Do you want my help?"

_If I said no would this fighter leave? _Piccolo wondered. It all seemed so sudden, and Piccolo knew that he faced an important decision._ Now wasn't the time to ask pointed questions about where the hell this fighter had come from. There are Androids to kill. _ So, Piccolo nodded. "Very well. Let's do it."

Together they flew at the Androids. Cell took Android 17 leaving Android 18 to Piccolo. Piccolo knew that he was doing a good job of holding his own against Android 18, but he saw Cell completely dominating Android 17. It was mind boggling how strong Cell was, and he was laughing while doing it.

"Surely, this isn't the best you can do?" Cell taunted Android 17 as he slammed him into the ground. "I should have struck long before this if you were this weak."

Android 17 rolled away from Cell's follow up blow, staggering back to his feet. He was already fighting at full power, and he expected that he could wear Cell down, but this monster kept putting out more energy. He was getting picked apart piece by piece. Already, his clothes were in shreds as parts of his skin was also burned away, exposing metal running through his bones. His left arm hung limply as blood and oil ran freely down it. His only chance now was to hope that his sister could finish her fight soon and join him in turning back Cell. "What are you? How are you so strong?" he questioned Cell.

"I am your end," Cell responded. "Dr. Gero created me to clean up the mess, by cleaning you up."

This staggered Android 17 back as though he had been punched. "He created you? But why?"

"I am his ultimate Android," Cell explained. "I will reach my perfection by absorbing you and Android 18."

As Piccolo was defending himself against Android 18, his ears picked up the conversation between Cell and Android 17. The news that Cell was an Android created by Dr. Gero shocked Piccolo so much that he missed his next block, costing him a heavy blow to face. He crashed through the ruins of several buildings. As he picked himself back up, Piccolo began to put the pieces together. Cell had mentioned perfection through absorbing the Androids. That was why he had joined in on the battle. _Damn it! I am being duped._ He hated when that happened. _Should I help the Androids against Cell or...? Which one is the greater evil here?_ At first glance it appeared to be the Androids, as Cell had done nothing wrong. Piccolo scolded himself for assuming the worst about someone before he knew the entire story and refocused his attention on his fight with Android 18.

Piccolo's feeling proved to matter little as Cell used the moment gained by his announcement to strike with his tail at the reeling Android 17. The Android struggled, but it was all for naught as Cell began to absorb him.

Piccolo paused as he felt Cells energy shoot upwards. _What power! And it was still growing!_ This was far beyond any power he could hope to comprehend. Well, he wasn't needed here anymore since Cell could easily crush the other Android. There wasn't anything he could do to stop it even if he were to take the radical step of joining forces with Android 18. It was time to cut his losses and run. Maybe if he got far enough away, he could escape. He had a duty to report this information back to the Past. They had to stop Cell there before he could even get started. A power of this magnitude couldn't be allowed to roam freely in the past. _What the hell was Dr. Gero thinking anyway creating a creature such as Cell? Weren't the Androids bad enough?_ He raised two hands to his face. "Solar flare!" he yelled as a blinding white light lit the entire area.

Taking off while everyone was blinded, Piccolo headed at the top speed for the Lookout. Behind him, he felt Cell's energy shoot upwards again, more than doubling in power. This power far exceeded the power he had displayed just minutes before after absorbing the first Android. That could only mean... _He must have gotten the other Android_. I have to suppress my energy before he finds me as well!

As Piccolo approached the Lookout, he was startled to feel a massive power behind him. _He caught me. But how? I have to lead him away from the Lookout._ Piccolo flew lower, heading for a clearing in the distance. This should be far enough away that Cell doesn't know that I was heading for the Lookout. Piccolo raised his ki back up so that Cell would be sure to follow him.

As he land, Piccolo kept his guard up as he searched for Cell. At the last moment he spotted him just as he blurred into existence right near him. _Such speed!_ Piccolo took a moment to look over the new Cell. Gone was his tail, retracted up into his back. Two massive black wings jutted out his back, reaching almost down to the ground. Two horns stuck out his green head. His purple eyes sparkled with laughter as he landed, and a big grin was plastered on his face.

"What do you want, Cell?" he questioned him.

"Want?" Cell responded as he stood there completely relaxed. "I want nothing. I have everything I need now. I am complete. All of this was possible because of you."

"Don't rub it in," Piccolo snapped at him. "Now what? You kill me and finish destroying the world?"

Cell laughed at that. "You have it all wrong, Piccolo. I have no interest in killing you. In fact, I want to thank you for the assistance that you provided me. I think such service deserves a reward. Don't you?"

"Thank me how?" Piccolo questioned not lowering his guard at all. If he was planning on killing him, why were they still standing around? "I won't be a pawn in whatever scheme you have cooked up."

"I know you are from the Past," Cell explained to him. He smiled at the shocked expression on Piccolo's face. "Now that I have the Androids inside of me, I know that they killed you around two decades ago in that very first battle. However, I am perfectly willing to let you go home."

"If you think that I am going to lead you to how I got here..." Piccolo began.

"I only wish to travel to test out my new body in combat. Nothing in this world holds my interest. I have all that I need. Sure, I could easily wreck this would further, but it would gain me nothing. There's no pride or joy on a nearly dead planet," Cell explained with conviction in his voice.

He's telling the truth. Piccolo could detect no trace of deceit in his voice. He relaxed slightly. It wasn't like it mattered if he remained guarded. Cell could kill him with very little effort. "What kind of reward do you have for me?"

"I have some useful advice." Cell told him.

Piccolo was getting tired of others telling him what to do today, but the tactical part of him couldn't turn away knowledge, no matter what the source. "I am listening," he said calmly.

"First, when you get home, you should fuse with your other half."

Piccolo's jaw dropped. _How the hell did he know about that? Oh wait, of course he has my cells inside of him. _"Why should I do such a thing?"

"Because of the power it will bring you, power that you will need. Am I wrong to assume that the Androids haven't appeared in the Past yet?"

Piccolo shook his head. "No, they haven't appeared yet, but I fought them pretty evenly here. Not to mention, I will have others fighting alongside me."

"This is true. You did a good job for being the weaker fighter. It won't matter though. These Androids are much weaker than the ones that will appear in your timeline."

"Weaker how?" Piccolo questioned him.

"They lost power over time here, weakened," Cell explained. "They were never intended to last forever. They were created to kill Goku. After that, Dr. Gero had plans to create me, so that I could absorb them. He ensured that I would be able to do so even in the event of his death by having them weaken over time."

There was something missing from Cell's story. "Why did you wait so long to absorb them? And why did you need my help to do so?"

"When I first awoke, I found that they were fighting two golden hair warriors. They were beating those warriors, and I wasn't as strong as they were. Dr. Gero created a way for me to gain strength however. He made it so that I could absorb the ki of the people on this world. The Androids had killed too many though, far more than they should have. I couldn't gather enough power myself. When you showed up, I knew that I had the answer to my problems."

That information floored Piccolo. They had to stop Cell in his time for sure. "What other advice?"

"Remember that they will be at full strength, and that you won't be able to wear them down. They don't get tired, and you will. Also their main target is Goku. They will destroy things until you arrive to stop them. This is part of their programming."

"Do you have that same programming?" Piccolo questioned.

Cell shrugged at that. "My main drive was to become perfect. Goku is dead here, so I can purge that part of my programming. Strangely I have no commands of what to do after I became complete, and with Goku already dead. He gave me more free will than he gave the other two Androids."

"What about your location? Where did you come from?" Piccolo probed, seeking more useful information. If they could stop the Androids before they even arrived, they could prevent any of this from even happening.

Cell smiled at that. He had expected that question to come up sooner or later. "I could tell you, but the others, the Saiyans they aren't going to want to take that route. Their Saiyan blood will call out for them to fight the Androids when they arrive. Besides at this point, Dr. Gero is still in his lab. If he detects you coming, he will set them free early. At this point my guess is that they are already fully complete. He is just doing final tests or final bits of programming."

"So you won't tell me this information?" Piccolo questioned him. "If not, I think we are done talking. I have nothing more to say to you."

"Tell me this much before you leave. You didn't use a time machine to get here, did you?" Cell questioned him.

Piccolo weighed the pros and cons of telling him before deciding there wasn't any harm in being honest. He couldn't sense any hostile intent from Cell. The creature seemed completely calm. "No, things have already begun to go differently in my time than here. I got ambushed by an old foe and locked inside something called the Dead Zone. I escaped, and in the process, I thought I was going home. Instead of ending up there, I ended up here."

Interesting, very interesting. "So you can time travel with this ability?" Cell questioned. His eyes lit up at the prospect.

"If I knew how to do it willingly, yes," Piccolo answered.

"And if I offered to unlock that knowledge in your mind?" Cell asked.

_He could do that? That would cut down on the time it took to figure how to get home_. Given his time in the Dead Zone, Piccolo knew that he was already cutting making it back on time close. "What do you want in return?"

"I want to watch you leave," Cell answered.

That seemed like a harmless request on the surface, but how far could Piccolo really trust him? What if he tried to latch on? "How do I know you won't try to go along for the ride?"

"If you understood the ability completely, you would know that wasn't possible," Cell answered. "You control who travels with you, someone can't just latch on. This isn't instant transmission."

"How can you teach me how to use it if you don't know it yourself?" Piccolo questioned him.

"Once I get inside your mind, the Namekian part of me can connect the dots floating around inside your mind," Cell responded. "You can restrict my access to only that as well."

There's no choice for him since he got to get home in time to help out. Can't risk losing Gohan, either of them. "Fine, do it," Piccolo ground out.

A while later, it was finished. Cell hadn't been lying; Piccolo now knew how to Shift in such a way that he could get back home. "Thank you," Piccolo said grudgingly. He had used the time that Cell was in his mind, to get into Cells. He hadn't been lying about what he planned either. He wanted to travel the universe and test himself against other fighters on other worlds. He planned to leave Earth alone so that it could rebuild. The planet really meant nothing to him. He had no wish to fulfill the mad ambitions of the Dr. Gero by completing the wrecking of the planet.

Focusing his mind, Piccolo opened a portal to his home. "Goodbye, Cell. I hope that you find what you are looking for out there." As Piccolo stepped through he heard Cells final words.

"I am positive that I will thanks to you."

_A/N: I had most of this chapter written in advance, but I have been struggling with shaping the scenes so that I am happy with them. They have gone through several rewrites, perhaps more than I have rewritten any other chapter. This chapter is so critical to the story, that I felt that I had to take the extra time to get it right._

_The events of the Future Timeline in this chapter take place mostly at the same time as the battle in the Past Timeline against Cooler, but I put them in this chapter for story flow reasons. Not to worry, the two timelines will catch up with each other before the arrival of the Androids in the Past Timeline._

_On a more positive note, I am ¾ the way done with Chapter 10, I just need to finish a few more scenes. If all goes as projected, chapter 10 will cover the remaining events before the arrival of the Androids._

_I am doing a new format for my reviews. Please let me know what you think. _

_Reviews:_

Link60fl_y:__Well it wasn't all future timeline, but it was mostly future timeline. It is still too early in the story for SSJ2. That will come later though._

Ky111_: __The Kai's being so weak also never made sense to me either, so it why I changed it. I hoped you like what Piccolo did in the Future Timeline, he had a tough choice to make, and time will tell the results of his choice._

_There doesn't appear to be anyone left in the PTO that can challenge them...or is there? This is a side story anyway, and it won't drag out very long, I can promise you that._

_The ASSJ is an important stepping stone for the Saiyans. It is the first form that they unlock beyond their basic Super Saiyan forms, yet it also feels incomplete over time. Future Gohan so outclassed Cooler, that they didn't get to see the main drawbacks of the form. But they have been training daily in the ship while in space. That has surely taught them some things that didn't know before. It is a lot like bulking up, only it is a true form as it unlocks training limits again. It isn't required to be able to handle the power of the FPSSJ, canon tells us this as Gohan never learned the ASSJ, he skipped straight to FPSSJ. ASSJ is about focusing power to break through, while FPSSJ is more about having total control._

Son of Whitebeard_: __How would you tell them apart then? Besides Turles is dead._

RoxaShadow_: __If it helps you, think of it as the fact that they did so much damage that it will take a really long time for his body to come back together. In reality though it is because the power of the dragon balls are limited and can be overcome. I will go into more detail about this in later chapters._

Reign Of Sorrow_: __T__hanks. I currently have through the Buu Saga planned out._

I-Love-Trunks1_: __Sorry, I am not writing a slash story. I am glad you are enjoying the story though, and I hope that you keep reading._

_I-Love-Trunks1__: __Now that is something that could happen. Thanks for the idea._

_Power Levels:_

_Future Cell: 330 million_

_Future Cell + Android 17: 530 million_

_Perfect Future Cell Suppressed: 1,080,000,000_

_Piccolo Weighted Clothing: 33,000,000_

_Piccolo Full Power: 55,000,000 _

_Piccolo Kaio-ken Times Two: 110,000,000_

_Piccolo Kaio-ken Times Three: 165,000,000_

_Future Android 17 Full Power: 200,000,000_

_Future Android 18 Full Power: 190,000,000_

_Future Gohan: 75,000,000_

_Future Gohan SSJ: 220,000,000_

_Future Gohan ASSJ: 458,000,000_

_Vegeta: 63,000,000_

_Vegeta SSJ: 210,000,000_

_Goku: 62,000,000_

_Goku SSJ: 209,000,000_

_Tien: 18,000,000_

_Krillin: 17,000,000_

_Future Trunks: 60,000,000_

_Future Trunks SSJ: 207,000,000_


	10. Chapter 10-Sins of the Father

**DI**

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 10 – Sins of the Father**

* * *

_**"Who said there are no assurances in life? I assure you this is going to hurt."**_

* * *

_Kami's Lookout: Past Timeline: Four Months Before the Arrival of the Androids._

Kami spun around as a white portal opened out of thin air behind him. What the...?

Mr. Popo looked up from tending the gardens, as he got ready to intervene. It was his job to serve Kami in all ways, including defending him as needed.

Piccolo stepped out of the portal, his cape trailing behind him. He nodded to Popo before turning his attention to Kami.

"Piccolo you have returned! It is good to see you in one piece," Kami stated with warmth his voice.

Piccolo said nothing as he stepped to the edge of the Lookout. He peered out down at the planet. All seemed peaceful. He must have arrived in time. But something was strange. He couldn't sense the energy of Gohan, Goku or Vegeta for that matter.

"Where is everyone?" Piccolo questioned Kami. "I made it back in time to face the Androids. I am sure of it."

"True, you did," Kami began. "However, to answer your question, they are out in space. They went to finish off the Planetary Trade Organization."

"And Goku approved of this plan?" Piccolo questioned. It didn't sound like Goku to strike first at all. Also why now of all times? Why leave the planet right before a major threat appeared? What if they were early?

"He has changed since Gohan died," Kami commented. He didn't approve of the change in attitude from his former student.

Piccolo took several steps backwards as if he had been stuck physically. But, it was much worse than that. The news of Gohan's death hit him on a deeper level. Shaking his shock off, he stalked forward towards Kami. "Explain. How did Gohan die exactly?"

"Cooler," Kami began. Seeing the confusion on Piccolo's face he elaborated further, explaining the events that had transpired since Piccolo was in the Death Zone. "So Gohan died a hero," he finished up.

That didn't make the news of his death any easier to take, Piccolo reflected. "Why hasn't he been wished back?"

"He is receiving special training from King Kai, and he choose not to be wished back for two more months. Future Gohan lost it when our Gohan died though, he..." Kami stopped as Piccolo opened up a portal and stepped into it. "Where are you going?" he questioned him.

"To go visit Gohan," Piccolo replied from inside the open portal.

"But that is for the land of the dead, you just can't pop in for a visit anytime you want," Kami argued back.

"I would like to see them try and stop me from visiting Gohan," Piccolo responded. "Especially now that I can go anywhere." Something struck him suddenly, Cell's advice to him. Stepping back through the portal, he closed it behind him. "Before I go though, I need something from you Kami."

Well that was already unusual, Piccolo never asked him for anything. "Go ahead with your request."

Piccolo walked over to him so that they stood right in front of each other. "Open your mind Kami, it is easier to explain that way."

Kami nodded as he complied. Suddenly the events that had transpired in the future timeline flashed through his mind, including the last bit where Piccolo had spoken to Cell. So a greater threat than the Androids existed. Kami knew what Piccolo was going to ask, and he was silent for long moments as he considered. Was Piccolo ready for such power? And did they have any choice?

Piccolo waited for Kami to process the events that had happened to him, and he awaited the moment when Kami would step forward and agree to do what must be done. Only by combining bodies could they hope to combat not just the Androids, but the even greater threat of Cell.

Finally Kami spoke. "I agree, we will fuse together and become one once again."

"Using my body," Piccolo stated.

"Agreed, you will get my wisdom, and the power that combining gives you."

Mr. Popo hadn't been in on the silent exchange between the two of them and he stepped forward. "Kami please, you can't do that, I don't want to lose you."

Kami turned to his friend and helper. "You won't lose me Mr. Popo, I will simply be in Piccolo's body." He stepped forward and got ready mentally. "Goodbye old friend."

Piccolo placed his hand on Kami's body and with a yell, the two became one.

For several minutes Piccolo stood motionless, processing the changes in his body and mind. His power level was through the roof, easily strong enough to have beaten one or both of the Future Androids based on how strong Cell was when he confronted them. "I will be back," he told Mr. Popo as he reopened the portal and stepped inside.

* * *

_King Kai's Planet: Otherworld: Four Months before the arrival of the Androids._

Winds raged around Gohan as he went through a new combination of punches and kicks, committing the new fighting techniques to memory. The weight of the two tons of training gear he was wearing combined with the greater gravity, slowed his movements ever so slightly. Even in his base form his body was learning to quickly adjust to each new group of weights. It had only been two days since this amount of weight had been put on and he was already almost at his top possible speed. Soon the weight would need to be increased upward again. As he went to repeat the attacks he felt a change in the air currents behind him and he spun around, defenses already raised. Training the past two months with King Kai had taught him to expect attacks from any angle at any moment. King Kai spent countless hours lecturing him on the importance of not only relying on his Ki senses, on being able to sense subtle changes in air current and wind direction as the forces of nature interacted with the bodies around them.

His Ki senses screamed as an overwhelming power level just appeared out of literally nowhere. As he spun around he noticed an open portal forming out of midair. Taking no chances, Gohan transformed, reaching his max power level in a matter of moments. He stood ready to strike as a creature stepped out of the open portal. It looked like...Piccolo. But his power level, it dwarfed even his own. How had Piccolo gotten so powerful so quickly?

"Hello Gohan," Piccolo said with a smile for his former student. "You have grown quite powerful since I last saw you, and I notice that you exhibit greater control over that power."

He was so calm, so self-assured Gohan noticed. He walked as if he had no worries in the entire world. And he wasn't even powered up either. How much more power was he hiding? Smiling back, Gohan allowed his power to return to normal as he dropped out of his transformation. Dropping all pretense of self-control, Gohan ran over to his mentor and gave him a big hug. "I thought you were lost forever, Mr. Piccolo," the 9 year old said.

"You should know it is not so easy to get rid of me," Piccolo said as he returned the hug. Only from Gohan would he allow this kind of contact, this kind of mushy moment. And even then only in limited amounts.

Breaking contact, Piccolo took a step back to look over Gohan, closer. In a brief flash, Gohan had shown that he had full control over his ability to transform now. This was good news, Piccolo reflected. Gohan would provide a good warm up, a test of his new abilities. "Care for a spar?" he asked his former student.

Gohan nodded as he dropped into his battle stance. "Ready when you are."

It had changed, Piccolo noted, he could see elements of the fighting style of the Kai's in Gohan's stance now, mixed with his demon style and his father's turtle style. "Well attack me then."

Gohan started to move forward but then he stopped, puzzled. "But you haven't bothered to put up any defenses."

"Let me worry about that part, just attack," Piccolo instructed.

Gohan shrugged as he charged forward only to pull up short as Piccolo vanished. Where did he go? The Half-Saiyan wondered. Focusing on what he had been taught he closed his eyes, listening for changes in the weather pattern around him. There! Throwing up an arm he blocked the kick from Piccolo aimed at his head. The impact knocked him backwards a few steps, but he reacted quickly by thrusting his other hand forward. "Masenko!" he yelled out, using the attack that he had learned from Piccolo against him.

Piccolo made no move to react as the attack exploded against him. When the smoke cleared he stood there totally unharmed. "Really Gohan you are going to have to try harder than that," he chided his former student.

Gohan's eyes narrowed as he considered his next options. The power he had felt earlier hadn't been a lie. Piccolo was leagues more powerful than before. Something had happened to him...wait a minute, it wasn't just Piccolo in there. "You fused with Kami," he said. It wasn't really a question, more of a statement of fact.

Piccolo nodded at that. "Yes I did."

"Why?"

"I needed to be complete once again to defend the planet. That after all is my job."

"But the dragonballs," Gohan protested. "What will we do without them?"

"Your father can visit New Namek and get Dende. I am sure he will agree to recreate the Earth's dragonballs."

"We don't need to wait on him," Gohan stated as a sly smile broke out on his face.

"Explain," Piccolo instructed.

"I can go anywhere I want, just by thinking about it," he began. He paused with a frown. "Only there seems to be a limit on this since I am dead. I can't return the living world until I am wished back. But I can go anywhere in the realms of the dead. I have seen a lot of amazing places."

"You learned instant transmission? How?" Piccolo questioned him. His shifting was very useful, but it had serious limits that stopped it from being usable in combat. It took too much time to focus in the middle of combat.

"Not instant transmission, instant movement which is an upgraded version of it known only to the Gods, and now to me. The difference is that I don't need a Ki signal to lock onto. I can just travel by focusing. I only need to know where I am headed," Gohan explained.

"Can you teach me this?" Piccolo questioned him. Knowing such a technique in battle would be very useful.

"No," a voice off to the side said. Both of them turned to see King Kai standing there. "That is only for the God's. I shouldn't even have taught Gohan, but he has grown on me, infected my judgment."

"That would be an amazingly useful ability, even more than the Kaio-ken," Piccolo pointed out. "Which you didn't bother to teach me while I was up here the first time."

King Kai shrugged at that. "I am not perfect. I have a billion things that I have to keep track of at every waking moment. Little things sometimes slip through the cracks."

"Little? Do you know how useful the Kaio-ken would have been against Frieza? I could have ended him before he got to his final transformation."

King Kai waved the protest away as if he was swatting an annoying fly. "It all worked out in the end didn't it? Always complaining, I take your student under my wing, teach him things that I have never taught others, allow you to visit him while he is dead, and this is the thanks that I get?"

"Allow? I would have liked to see you try and stop me from visiting Gohan," Piccolo snapped back. He paid no mind to the fact that Gohan was trying to signal him to stand down.

"You know for someone who fused with Kami, you aren't showing much wisdom right now. You are angering me in my own domain," King Kai stated. "Even with all of your increased power, you are still very small when compared to my true abilities."

Piccolo started to respond, then quieted down before dropping into a bow for a moment. "You are correct King Kai, I am sorry for my temper. It is just tough news to know that the one person you really cared about died, and you weren't there to do anything about it."

As he did with most things King Kai waved Piccolo's words off. "Yes, mortal feelings and attachments, it is understandable you feel that way. No need to fret though, Gohan can return the land of the living at any point that he wishes. But he hasn't yet completed his training so that would be an unwise choice on his part. I am training him to face threats beyond the Androids, threats that none of you are even aware of at this moment."

* * *

_Icejin Homeworld: Main Spaceport: Two Months before the arrival of the Androids._

"So this is the place that created Frieza, Cooler, and his father," Future Trunks said as they looked around at the planet they were on. Approaching them were a squadron of Icejin soldiers. They were led by an Icejin wearing the royal crest. '

"I thought all of their family was dead now?" Goku questioned Vegeta.

"We killed the main rulers, true, but there are others. This might be the son of either Cooler or Frieza." He took a second look at the crest. "That is Frieza's son Kuriza."

Goku's face hardened at the mention of Frieza. "Well, we will be doing the galaxy a favor by taking care of him then."

"Wait, Goku you just can't attack without reason," Krillin protested.

"Vengeance is not the proper way. Trust me I know," Tien assured Goku.

"Greetings travelers," Kuriza said as he approached them flanked by his guards. He did a double take as he looked them over. "Four Saiyans in a single place, along with some of a race that I don't know. I wasn't aware that many Saiyans still existed in the universe." Despite only being in his first form, Kuriza stood calmly with his hands behind his back. "Did one of you finally kill my father? It is said that he was killed by Saiyans on the Planet Earth. My uncle went there to check things out, and he hasn't reported back. In his place I have assumed command of the empire."

One of Kuiza's guards whispered something in his ear, prompting the smile to fade off his face.

Future Trunks stepped forward, one hand on the sword strapped to his back. "I killed your father."

Future Gohan stepped forward to stand beside him. "And I killed your uncle...and grandfather."

"So you both must be powerful warriors then," Kuriza reasoned.

"We are," Future Gohan confirmed.

"You would have to be in order to kill my father and uncle," Kuriza said with a shrug that showed him to be unworried by this news. "Still you did me and the entire Planetary Trade Organization a favor by killing them."

Goku took a step back upon hearing that news. "Excuse me? You are happy that we killed your family? That doesn't mesh with how the rest of your family reacted when we killed family members. What kind of son are you that you are so casual about the death of your father?"

"They were driving the empire into the ground with their wasteful killing. Dead planets pay no taxes," Kuriza explained. "Though it is a pity that I didn't get to kill them myself. I am denied my revenge for how they treated me." For the first time a flash of anger crossed his face before fading back to his normal expression. "Still, I guess I will have to settle with thanking those that killed them in my place. They were fools, trusting only in their power and nothing else."

Goku exchanged looks with the others at this. Their plan had been to land and end the threat by wiping out the military on this planet, eliminating anyone of royal blood, which Vegeta assured them would cause enough chaos over who would have the power, that no one would bother any other planet for a long time.

"It doesn't matter what this Kuriza says Kakarot," Vegeta told his rival mentally. "He is of royal blood, and they have strict beliefs about anyone killing them but another of royal blood. If you allow this Kuriza to live, he will come after Earth at some point. They live a long time, much longer than we do, and if you show mercy now you are only putting the conflict off for your descendants to fight. For my descendants to fight. That isn't acceptable."

Kuriza caught the looks that they exchanged and correctly guessed at their meaning. "What did my father and uncle do to you that brought you all the way here for revenge? Earth is quite a long way from here I believe."

"Cooler killed my son," Goku told him.

"Ah, I see. So you are here to kill me in revenge? Kuriza questioned him. He waved his guards back. "I can handle this," he told the leader of his guards.

"No let them fight with you. That might make things slightly interesting," Vegeta stated as he stood with his arms crossed.

The possible threat of his death seemed to have little effect on Kuriza as he stood in the same relaxed stance. "Please Vegeta...yes I know who you are, father used to talk about you a lot. There is no reason to be hostile. I am not my father or uncle, although I will defend myself or this planet if it is threatened. You won't find me as much of a pushover as my father was."

"Tough talk for someone with such a low power level," Vegeta stated. "Either of the humans could take you quite easily."

"I am suppressing my power level for the safety of those around me," Kuriza explained. "Tell me something Vegeta are all of you Super Saiyans?"

"We are," Vegeta answered. "But we don't need all four of us. I am quite capable of killing all of you by myself...only that right belongs to Kakarot since it was son that was killed in battle by your uncle."

Kuriza chuckled at that. "I wish to tell you something, as a show of good faith, Vegeta. Each of my guards are stronger than my father. We have been training hard since I was a small boy, and these are my loyal handpicked guards. More than that they are my friends and companions. You see I wasn't raised by my father, at least not entirely. I don't believe in the senseless killing that he endorsed. I only kill as needed."

"We are all several times stronger than Frieza," Future Trunks told Kuriza. Well at the least the Saiyans were. He knew that Krillin and Tien could hold their own long enough for someone to aid them in a fight if it came to that.

"We only wish to end the threat that your empire has posed to countless worlds. So that no more children will die as my son has died," Goku explained to Kuriza.

"Is that why you have slaughtered billions as you have torn a path across my empire?" Kuriza questioned him. For the first time he kept an expression of anger upon his face. His eyes flashed as he thought about the deaths and lost taxes that the group in front of him had caused.

Goku winced as that shot hit home. He had done a lot more killing than he was comfortable with over the past months. He had come to see the need for killing in the right situations as some were beyond saving, but he still didn't like it. That is why he had been against simply wiping this planet out from space. He had gotten the others to agree to a series of limited strikes that would hopefully limit any further collateral damage.

"We were hoping to get the attention of whoever was in charge. We have done our best to stick to military targets. Any other damage is unfortunate, but death happens in war," Future Gohan answered as he stepped forward.

"You got my attention," Kuriza assured him. "Now, I would like if we could come to some sort of agreement, as you won't be leaving the planet until we do. You are welcome as my guests at the palace while we talk. We will take good care of your spaceship for you."

"That isn't needed, but thank you," Bulma told him. Reaching upward she hit a series of buttons on the underside of their spaceship. With a puff of smoke, the ship vanished, leaving a single capsule behind. Bending over, she picked the capsule up, putting it in her pocket. "We will just take the spaceship with us."

Kuriza and his guards looked on in shock as she did that. "That technology is amazing," he commented.

"Well, I feel the same way about a lot of your technology. In fact I have borrowed some of it for my own uses, but I would like to see and learn about more of it."

Vegeta looked on at their exchange with disgust in his eyes. They had come here with the simple goal of ending the threat, and the conversation had devolved into this. There was far too much fighting and not enough...not any combat. If this Kuriza was as strong as he claimed to be, he would be a good test of his new power, and a reality check on how far he had yet to go.

Future Trunks walked over to his mom. "Mom, I know you want to always explore new technology when you get the chance, but we really don't have time. We are due back on Earth soon. We only came here to end the threat, not to acquire new technology."

"Hush, Trunks, we can do both, if you just let me do the talking. Not everything has to be about death and combat.'

"We will gladly trade for that capsule technology," Kuriza assured her. "Now, if you all would follow me, we can go to my palace where it is more comfortable,"

"No, we can talk here." Goku stated.

"Why?" Kuriza questioned him, puzzled.

"Because if it comes down to having to kill you, the fight will do less damage than it would in a city," Goku explained.

"Won't be much of a fight if they are only are slightly stronger than Frieza," Vegeta said with an evil grin on his face. "Will be more of a slaughter. We should just kill them, complete our mission and then the women can take the technology she wants with us. That is the much quicker option."

Goku looked at the others.

"As much as I hate to agree with Vegeta, he is right. We came here to stop a further threat, let's do that, "Future Gohan said when Goku's, glance fell on him.

"If we can end this without fighting let's do it," Krillin argued.

"I agree with my father and master," Future Trunks told Goku.

"Sorry, Krillin," Tien began. "There is a time to fight and a time to talk. Now is the time to fight. He tried to keep us as his guests that tells us everything we need to know about him."

The thing was, Goku, agreed with them. He couldn't look at Kuriza, without seeing his past mistakes over and over again in his head. It was time to finish the threat once and for all, so that no more children would have to die, so that no more fathers would have to suffer what he suffered. Still no reason to wreck the entire world. Surely there were Icejin's here who weren't responsible for what the PTO had done. "Fine, but military targets only. Vegeta, if you wouldn't mind pointing those out for us."

Vegeta nodded at that. He no longer cared to just purge randomly. That part of him had died because of his time on Earth. Which wasn't to say that he minded killing, as long as the targets were deserving. Never again would anyone order him to kill. He would kill because he chose to. "I will take on Kuriza's guards, while Kakarot takes care of Kuriza."

"And what are we going to do father, just watch?" Future Trunks asked.

"Please there will be plenty of combat for all of you. You won't be walking away from it though," Kuriza told them. He waved his guards forward. "Kill them."

Future Gohan stepped forward, his one remaining eye blazing. "I think not." Quickly making the jump to Super Saiyan he powered up twin Masenko blasts in each hand. Combining them as he brought his hands together, he fired the now massive blast at the group of Kuriza's guards. The resulting impact from the blast engulfed them causing a massive explosion that shredded the spaceport around them. The Z-Fighters were forced to take to the air to escape the blast radius.

When the smoke cleared the entire squad of guards were scattered all over the remains of the spaceport, either out cold or dead.

"Damn it boy! You ruined my fun!" Vegeta snapped at him as he landed next to Future Gohan. "Now who am I going to test my new power out against?"

"You could test it out on me," a deep voice said behind them. As they spun to look, they saw Kuriza, now in his second form with a purple energy shield around him. Unlike his father, he could shift between his forms at will in moments. He had gone up to his second form just to be safe when the blast was fired. He hadn't counted on taking on all four Super Saiyans by himself. Though maybe if he could appeal to their misplaced sense of pride he could get them to fight him one against one. They would be fools to do so, but they had often shown themselves to be fools.

"And deny Kakarot the honor of avenging his son?" Vegeta scoffed at him.

"Are you afraid to fight me...Prince to Prince?" Kuriza taunted him. He needed to fight their leader first, as the others seemed to question him about what they should do. He was the prince and most likely their strongest fighter. Kill him and the others would lose their belief in their ability to win. And none would dare to interfere in the fight of their leader.

"No. But I do have honor, and I won't interfere in a fight that isn't mine to interfere in," Vegeta told him calmly.

"You have no honor, you are just a monkey, a tool to be pointed when killing needs to be done. My father was right about you. You hide behind this third-class monkey, and you call yourself a Saiyan Prince," Kuriza said as he dropped the energy shield.

Vegeta looked over at Goku, a question in his eyes.

Goku waved him onward as he dropped out of his Super Saiyan state. "Be careful though, Vegeta, he is holding back a great deal of his power."

"So am I, Kakarot," Vegeta responded before returning his full attention to Kuriza. "Today is not your lucky day. I am sure that Kakarot would have killed you cleanly and quickly. I intend to make you suffer for insulting my honor."

"Such big threats for a monkey, but if I recall you promised my father the same thing. He made you eat his words, I will as well." Perfect, things were going exactly as he had believed that they would. It was so easy to get the Saiyans to do exactly what you wanted them to do.

With that the two warriors met in midair, exchanging blows. It quickly became clear to all that were watching that despite the fact that he wasn't a Super Saiyan, Vegeta still had the upper hand. Reaching around, Vegeta grabbed Kuriza by the tail, slamming him into the remains of the spaceport. He followed that attack up by throwing Kuriza up into the air, only to vanish and appear above him, slamming the Icejin into the ground with a double ax handle.

"Come on Kuriza, transform before I get bored with this fight," Vegeta told him as he waited with his arms crossed in midair.

Kuriza pulled himself to his feet, blood running freely from his mouth. Bruises covered his body from the pounding that he had just taken from Vegeta. "Very well, if you wish to die so soon, I will jump straight to my true form." In moments it was done, and Kuriza stood there looking very much like his father, only taller. All of his earlier wounds had vanished with his transformations. He lifted both hands into the air, extending a finger on each hand. "This was always a favorite tactic of my father. And for killing my bodyguards and friends you deserve this. All of you pay close attention, because after I am finished with the monkey prince here, you will be next one by one."

With that, Kuriza began to shoot Death Beams at Vegeta.

Purple beam after purple beam impacted Vegeta, who made no visible attempt to block or dodge them. In fact he didn't move an inch from his spot showing no reaction to the impacts.

"He's...he's just standing there not moving," Krillin said to Tien in amazement.

"Look closely, Krillin. Vegeta has a Ki shield up, but he is keeping it very close to his body so it appears as if the Death Beams are hitting him when really they are just hitting the Ki shield he has up. Quite clever, and it takes a razor sharp focus to be able to do it this way. He is just toying with Kuriza right now," Tien responded.

"Rapid fire!" Kuriza called out as he poured more power into the Death Beams.

In response Vegeta finally held up a hand, charging up energy in the palm of his hand. "Let me show you how it is done," he called out. "Hell's Fury!" Out of his hand shot a solid energy wave, which quickly split into a series of thin yellow beams. Four...eight...sixteen, twenty four, forty eight...soon there were hundreds of the beams.

They impacted Kuriza all over his body causing the Icejin to take a step backwards with each beam that struck him. Very quickly he began to do a dance against his will. Each beam burned into and through his flesh, but none were more painful than the two that struck both of his eyes, burning them out. He grabbed his head as he sunk to his knees. "You...rotten...monkey! You blinded me!"

"Finish him off already Vegeta," Goku pleaded with his fellow Saiyan.

"Very well," Vegeta responded. He turned his focus back to Kuriza who was still withering in pain on the ground. "You are lucky that my fellow Saiyan wishes your death to be quick." Vegeta cupped his hands together charging purple energy between them. When he had collected enough, he fired his Galek Gun directly at Kuriza.

However, when the smoke cleared, Kuriza had vanished from sight. He was no longer where the beam had impacted.

"Is he dead?" Future Trunks asked his master.

"No he dodged that attack," Future Gohan replied.

"But he couldn't see, how did he?" Future Trunks questioned.

"He sensed the attack with his Ki senses. Sight is overrated sometimes," Future Gohan explained to his student.

Vegeta sensed a massive buildup of energy in the air above him and quickly transformed into a Super Saiyan as he looked upwards. Rapidly approaching him was a Death Ball, bigger than any he had seen before. How had Kuriza recovered quickly enough to gather that much energy that quickly?

Figuring that his foe couldn't see, and knowing that the others would never allow such an attack to impact the ground, Vegeta dodged the attack, only to almost be hit with it on the rebound as the Death Ball changed course and flew after him again.

"Shit," Vegeta swore as he caught the Death Ball with his hands. Kuriza had made a Death Ball that locked on to the Ki signature of the target. Which was clever, Vegeta had to admit as he struggled to push it away from his body. The Death Ball contained so much power that it was slowly driving him towards the ground. This was not good. If it hit the ground the entire planet would go at once, and that would be the end of them. Then who would protect his son from the Androids? It would be like the Future Timeline all over again. And that wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to die again to another Icejin.

Behind him as he struggled, Vegeta heard Kuriza's mad cackle. "You took my eyes, but I am going to take your life, and that of those that serve you," Frieza's son taunted him. 'Just give in already, your death won't hurt…much. It will be over quickly. Then your race will be truly dead."

"If it hits the ground it will blow up your entire planet, and kill everyone. Maybe you will live through it, but you will have killed your entire race. Even your father, scum that he was, would have never sunk so low, not against his own people," Vegeta told him as he continued to fight against the Death Ball.

"Some of them will live, we are a tough race to kill. Using those and the resources of my empire, I will rebuild my home world even better than before. As for those that don't live, they will be hailed as heroes, fallen in defense of the empire. The story will go that I killed you, but not before you were able to launch an attack that blew this planet up. The strongest of the Super Saiyans fell at my hand. The legend that struck fear in the entire universe, dead at my hand. Who will dare to question any of my orders then?"

Enough of this. Vegeta unleashed all his power in a single burst, aided by his rage. With a roar he pushes the Death Ball away, causing it to shoot up through the atmosphere of the planet and strike one of the orbiting moons, shattering it into a fragment of rocks that rained down upon the planet.

"Protect Bulma!" Future Gohan called out as he saw the danger the incoming asteroids poised to everyone. He suited action to words as he threw Bulma to the ground, standing over in his Super Saiyan form.

The others transformed as well, while the red aura of the Kaio-ken appeared around Krillin and Tien.

As the asteroids rained down, they blasted as many as they could out of the sky, focusing first on the closest ones, along with any that were big enough to be planet killers.

Meanwhile dodging the asteroids raining down around him, Vegeta had closed with Kuriza. "No more games. I am ending this right now." Battering aside the weakened defenses, Vegeta grabbed Kuriza by the neck squeezing tightly. "Any last words?" he asked his foe.

"Two…" Kuriza ground out as he struggled with the fact that he couldn't breathe properly. "Fuck…You"

With that Vegeta snapped his neck, throwing him to the ground. Best to make sure though. Holding out a hand he fired an energy wave. "Big Bang Attack!"

Sinking to the ground he struggled to maintain his Super Saiyan state. That last chain of events had taken a lot out of him.

* * *

_Kami's Lookout: Six weeks before the Arrival of the Androids._

Piccolo stood waiting with his cape blowing in the wind generated by the landing of the spaceship in front of him. Finally the others had returned from their adventures in space. There was much to do and very little time to do it in, so the idea of rest just wasn't in the cards. He watched as Bulma, Goku, Vegeta, Future Gohan, Future Trunks, Krillin and Tien exited the ship. "Welcome back. Goku a word if I may," he said without preamble.

"What I learned that allowed me to soup up the engines of the spaceship, thus cutting our return time by several weeks, only scratches the surface of the technology that we took from their Homeworld. The practical applications alone could advance us several decades in some fields. If I were to combine that with the knowledge my future-self gave me on those discs, why by the time you are ready to return home, I will be the one transmitting information for future-me to use," Bulma was explaining to Future Trunks as they exited the craft together.

"But mom, she gave very specific instructions about the discs. They contain knowledge that this world shouldn't have unless things go very wrong here as well. Time travel shouldn't become common knowledge. We only turned to it because we had no other option. Mom considered it a long shot at best that she could even pull it off," Trunks explained. "But her notes would allow you to do it under a year if you started before all of the resources of the world were wrecked by the Androids," Trunks responded.

Turning his attention away from that conversation, Piccolo focused back on Goku. "You need to travel to New Namek and get Dende."

Goku had been eyeing Piccolo with a considering expression as he waited for the Namek to speak again. "You fused with Kami, so the dragonballs no longer work. You believe that Dende would be willing to come here and recreate them. Did I miss anything?" Goku asked him.

"No," Piccolo replied shortly.

"Okay then, I will be right back," Goku said as he put two fingers to his forehead.

"He really should teach us that," Future Trunks said as he walked over after Goku left.

"Kakarot should have done a lot of things differently. If he had, your timeline wouldn't have been the mess that it currently is," Vegeta remarked.

"You weren't perfect either Father," Future Trunks told him.

Vegeta waved that criticism off. "I fought against the Androids in your timeline didn't I?"

"Yes, but you lost," his son from the future reminded him.

"From what Gohan said, it took both of them to take me down," Vegeta said with a smile on his face. "Had they fought like true warriors, I would have carried the day."

Future Trunks shook his head at that. "With all due respect Father, I don't think so. Even being able to fight them one on one it hasn't made much of a difference. They keep showing us new levels of strength. Gohan could beat them as he is now, but you didn't have access to that transformation in my world."

"After I finish my training in the time chamber, the rest of you will be able to sit back and watch as I crush both Androids easily," Vegeta told him.

"And miss my chance at revenge?" Future Trunks asked his father. "That is not happening. I look forward to the day that I get to dismember the Androids with my own hands, to pay them back for the pain and suffering that they have caused."

That earned a rare smile from Vegeta. "Spoken like a true Saiyan, my son."

"You know, these Androids haven't done anything wrong yet," Bulma pointed out as she joined the conversation.

"And they never will get a chance to either," Future Gohan told her. "They will be dead before they can cause any harm. We are all going to train inside the time chamber to make sure of that."

"On that note, I have a surprise for all of you," Piccolo cut in. "Because it was known that it would be needed, Kami decided to help grow extra Senzu beans. There are plenty for each group to take into the time chamber, to aid in quick recovery while training. And we should discard all of this foolish talk of revenge. We need to think tactically about defeating the Androids, not let our pride get in the way."

"Tactics will not be required to crush them utterly," Future Gohan told Piccolo. "I know how strong the Androids are, and we can beat them, especially after everyone gets done training."

"Even if that is the case, we have another worry. Cell is out there, and he is much, much stronger than the Androids, now that he has absorbed the pair in the future. If he figures out a way back to the past he could be a deadly threat." Piccolo proceeded to explain the events that had happened in the future timeline while he was there.

Shortly after that, Goku arrived with Dende. "He says he will do it," Goku told the others.

"Yes, I will be happy to recreate the Dragonballs. All I need is a model of the Dragon. And I should be able to upgrade them to grant more wishes. At least two, maybe even three," Dende explained to the others.

"That would be wonderful, please get started right away," Piccolo said. "Mr. Popo will be happy to show you to the dragon model."

"I will be ready in a week, please come back then," Dende told the others.

* * *

_A Week Later: King Kai's planet: Otherworld._

"They will be wishing you back soon," King Kai told his student. "They are currently assembling the Dragon balls."

"That's great news! I am ready to be wished back," Gohan said with a big grin on his face. "Not that I haven't greatly enjoyed my time here, King Kai," he quickly added.

"Yes, I understood what you meant the first time, Gohan." King Kai held up a hand to stop his student from speaking. "Listen carefully, Gohan. Remember everything I've taught you and all that had happened while you have been here. You made a promise for the instant movement, and I expect you to keep it."

"Yes, King Kai," Gohan replied with a serious expression.

"Ah, they're wishing you soon," King Kai notified him, smiling. "You better kick those Androids butts while you're down there. I don't want to see you or any of your friends here so soon."

Gohan laughed. "Will do, King Kai!" He waved to King Kai as he started to vanish.

Moments later he was back in the world of the living, standing on Kami's Lookout. "Hi everyone," he said with a wave as Chi-Chi pulled him into a long hug, kissing him on the top of his forehead before handing him over to Goku.

Gohan practically jumped into Goku's arms, so happy to see his father again after what felt like so long. "I missed you, daddy."

"Goku ruffled his hair as he held his son. "I missed you to Gohan, and so did your little brother."

"I can't wait to see him!" Gohan exclaimed.

"You will soon, we promise," Chi-Chi told him

"I want to see how much stronger you got brat," Vegeta said from off to the side.

"As do I," Piccolo echoed.

"King Kai says that I have to keep up my training. Who knows how strong the next one would be?"

"Sounds like you're intended to keep Earth safe in the far future," Piccolo commented with a grin. Gohan may be his student, but he's also his friend.

"My next step is to bring out all of the untapped power that only seems to come out when I get angry enough. I didn't have enough time with King Kai nor it's ideal to learn how through him. That's where all of you come in!"

"It's control, isn't it?" Future Gohan asked, having heard of their conversation. "All of the power in the world doesn't help if you can't master it. Take it from me," Future Gohan told him. "It took your death for the dots to finally connect for me."

"What is your second wish?" The Dragon boomed out, reminding them all that he was still floating in the sky. "I don't have all day."

The others exchanged looks, they hadn't really planned on making a wish other than bringing Gohan back to life.

"We don't really…" Bulma began.

"I have one, if I may," Future Gohan said stepping forward.

"Speak the wish quickly. I begin to go bored," the Dragon instructed in a booming voice.

"Can you fully…" Future Gohan paused as he rethought the wording of the wish. At first he was going to ask for his missing eye to be restored only, but he had taken great beatings from the Androids and his body had never fully healed properly since they had run out of Senzu beans. "Restore my body to perfect health?" he asked the Dragon.

"Quite easily. Is that your second wish?"

"Yes," Future Gohan said with a nod.

The Dragon's eyes glowed red for a moment before it spoke again. "Your wish has been granted. Farewell." With that the Dragon broke up into a beam of light, that light breaking up into seven lights that scattered all over the planet. The sky above them returned to normal shortly after that.

For the first time in years, Future Gohan knew what it was like to be in perfect health.

* * *

_A/N: Greetings everyone, sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter. The first reason why is simple, I have had crappy internet recently, and the process of getting it fixed has required me to switch companies. The second reason is slightly more complex. I had intended for chapter ten to bring the story up to the point of the Androids arrival. However there was just too much that needed to be written in order to make this feasible to put into one chapter. So I decided to split the chapter into two parts. Combined they currently stand at 17,500 words, and that is without the A/N, or answering reviews. I still have two final scenes to write in the chapter before it is complete. I didn't want to post a chapter that would be well over 20,000 words in one go so I decided to split the chapter into two. _

_I am not posting many power levels this chapter, because next chapter the Z-Fighters go into the HTC and everything changes from there._

_One final thing, big thanks to RoxaShadow for his help with this chapter, and the next one. _

_Onward to the reviews._

* * *

_Reviews: _

_Q: Great chapter, I really enjoyed the fight between Piccolo and the Androids. While I don't think Cell was lying to Piccolo I do think he just used him for his own gain that's going to comeback and bite Piccolo and his world in the ass (Cell probably gained the knowledge to shift when he unlocked the knowledge in Piccolo's mind and due to his Namekian cells probably can also shift once he knows how it works), I'm guessing Piccolo was able to teleport during the fight by using Instant Transmission (which he would of gained by the transfer his future counterpart imparted to him and he would of gained the knowledge from either learning the technique from Goku or King Kai, Future Piccolo probably found a way to improve on the technique as well which would be why Past Piccolo was able to teleport without concentrating to much or having to lock onto another Ki signature)._

_Anyway great chapter hoping we might get to see a bit of Past Gohan training in Otherworld with King Kai in the next one._

_Until then._

_**A: You have some good guesses. Yes, Cell was being honest, he didn't really blow up the Future Earth. Also good guess about the shifting that was Cell's intention in going inside of Piccolo's mind. He wants a way to travel around the Universe quickly, and Piccolo appears to be able to appear out of thin air. Piccolo did not use Instant Transmission, but that is a really good guess. You are however on the right track with the rest of what you said. A small hint, think shorter distances.**_

_**Much more of Gohan in this chapter, as you had hoped for. **_

_Q (from chapter 6): __Well I hope this teaches our heroes what happens when you let the bad guy monologue. Cooler is now stronger than ever, and I can't wait to see how these guys will overcome this challenge._

_I'm also intrigued to find out what happened to Piccolo since you showed us that he has escaped. I wonder where he could be._

_Keep it up._

_**A: As you found out, Piccolo is in the future timeline. Also, it is a pretty common mistake that the Z-fighters make in allowing their foes to gain more power than them. If Cooler had asked if he could transform, they might have even let him so that they could get a more enjoyable fight out of it. At least Goku and Vegeta would have considered it. **_

_Q (from chapter 7): __I think it's amazing that you have the human fighters banding together to combine their power and actually make a dent into the opponent. I hope you don't mind, but I might borrow this idea for my story. I've been thinking about how to make the human's relevant, and this might just work out for me._

_Aside from that, I can't believe you actually went ahead and killed Gohan. That took guts to go through it, and I can't wait to see what is the reaction of everyone._

_Keep it up. (Oh by the way, I'm not sure if it was a mistake or it was intended, but I noticed in this chapter, when Cell briefly appeared, that the year was 686. I know it's been a while since I read this story, but I don't remember Cell traveling in time that far back.)_

_**A: The humans have great techniques, what they have lacked is the power to make those techniques useful. With the Kaio-ken they have that, especially as they have trained together to learn how to combine their techniques. It is them being proactive and making sure that even though they know they will never catch the Saiyans or Piccolo in terms of raw power, they can still be useful in the coming fights. Feel free to borrow the idea for your own story. I am honored that you enjoy it that much.**_

_**My beta reader couldn't believe I killed Gohan either. She thought that I might have meant to put another Z-Fighter in the scene instead of Gohan lol. But something was needed to push Future Gohan over the edge and allow him to finally grab hold of the power he had within him. Trunks death would have worked as well, but I had other reasons for choosing Gohan as the one who was going to die. **_

_**I will take a second look at the year and make sure I put the correct year. It is quite possible that was an error on my part. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. **_

_Q (from chapter 8): __I think it's quite clever the way you found around immortality. It makes sense that it's proportional to the power of the dragon, so technically you can kill an immortal. My only question is, doesn't that mean that someone could eventually be stronger than the dragon himself because if we know that a dragon's wish (aka his power) can be overthrown, then doesn't that mean that one person could eventually be stronger than said dragon?_

_Also enjoyed the changes made to King Kai and it better fits a person that hold the title of God. I can see that promise Gohan made will come back especially throughout the 7 year gap (if you cover it)._

_Keep up the awesome work._

_**A: The dragon's power has limits of course. We have seen those limits come up in Dragonball Z. You ask a great question and one that deserves a really detailed answer that I sadly can't give you without spoiling large parts of what I have planned in the story for later chapters. The very short and spoiler free answer is yes it is possible. The dragon's power is tied to that of the creator. The more powerful the magic of the creator, the more powerful the dragon. Hence why the Namekian Dragon is more powerful than the Earth Dragon.**_

_**The promise Gohan made will come into play at some point in the story later on. But I can't say exactly when. Yes I plan on covering the seven year gap and not just skipping it entirely. I have a couple of really cool things planned out so far. Maybe I will come up with more as well, not sure yet. **_

_Q: Well Cell was very helpful. I wonder what he gained from accessing Piccolo's mind because something tells me that he wasn't that helpful without getting something in return, that even Piccolo might have not seen. _

_So I'm guess that when Future Gohan and Future Trunks go back to their time, everything will have been okay now right? I know you said that they don't have the ability to travel back now, but I'm assuming that eventually they will be able to travel._

_Keep it up._

_**A: Cell learned how to Shift. I can tell you that without spoilers, because you will see it in the next chapter which I already have written. Also I answered another question just like this earlier in the reviews. **_

_**If you are asking me if their story is done once they head back, no it isn't. If you are asking me what else could happen to them in the future timeline, some of those answers appear in my next chapter, but I won't spoil them now. They will be able to travel back once the time machine finishes fully recharging. But any return plans are on hold until they have done what they came here to do and that is save the past from the Androids. **_

_Q:I really enjoyed this thus far. I think the changes to cannon were ok, except I cant imagine the namekians going along with cooler under any circumstances. they are'nt stupid and they could probably read his intentions somehow._

_most of the changes are fine but I would advise you not to push it too much._

_I hope you update soon _

_**A: They didn't really have much of a choice. If they refused they would have been tortured and killed one by one until they submitted. On the other hand, Cooler did just save their planet and was willing to leave them alone in exchange for a single wish. He saved them because he needed them alive, but he still did it. He got his wish and left them alone. **_

_**What do you consider to be too many changes? I have tried to keep the changes as logical ones that would have happened had the first big change played out the way it did.**_

* * *

_Power Levels: _

_Kuriza First Form: 25,000,000_

_Kuriza Second Form: 45,000,000_

_Kuriza Fourth Form Suppressed: 65,000,000_

_Kuriza Fourth Form Full Power: 200,000,000_

_Kuriza's Bodyguards: 50,000,000_

_Kuriza's Bodyguards Full Power: 150,000,000_

_Piccolo Fused with Kami Full Power: 235,000,000_

_Piccolo after Training with Gohan: 237,000,000_

_Super Saiyan Gohan after training with King Kai: 215,000,000_


	11. Chapter 11-Terror of the Universe

**DI**

**Chapter 11 –Terror of the Universe**

**Android Saga**

* * *

"_**I have seen entire civilizations rise and fall. You mortals are but dust to me."**_

* * *

_Future Timeline: Unknown Planet: Cell_

It had taken some time to master how this shifting ability had worked, but now Cell was able to combine it with his Ki sensing, projecting that ability through the open portals. The combined ability allowed him to seek out the nearest planet with strong Ki readings.

As he arrived on this planet however, his senses warned him of a massive Ki that hadn't been on the planet when he had checked earlier. It was battling seven other large Ki sources, the ones that he had come here to check out. For brief moments the massive Ki would fall, but each time it would shoot back up, and one of the seven Ki sources would fade greatly in response. Combined, the seven Ki's had more power, but it didn't seem to matter much.

Cell decided to take a closer look at the battle, and opening up another portal he stepped through.

When he arrived he saw chaos on the battlefield as the five remaining warriors traded blows with a fat pink blob with a giant black M on its belt. The five warriors were each wearing advanced suits of armor that appeared to protect them and enhance their natural abilities. The technology was amazing, far beyond any that Cell had come across on his travels.

His arrival to the battlefield had gone unnoticed as the warriors were locked into combat with the pink blob. Each of the warriors was wearing blue armor other than the leader who was wearing red armor as he issued attack commands. Cell couldn't understand their language as they shouted, but he didn't need an understanding of that language to see the tactics being employed. And that those tactics were currently failing.

As he watched, the leader of the group motioned for the others to take to the sky. Deciding that it was better to play it safe, Cell followed suit, hovering behind a rock formation to stay out of sight. As he watched, glancing around the corner of the rock formation, he saw the leader extend his left hand which summoned an energy blade from inside the suit of armor. He slashed forward twice with the blade at the pink creature, missing him entirely both times.

The rock formation around Cell suddenly blew apart, and cuts appeared on his chest arms and legs. His regeneration quickly took care of those minor wounds, but Cell was amazed at the power behind the swings of the sword. Despite not being the target, the blowback from the swings had wrecked everything still standing in a couple of blocks radius around the red armored warrior. That is why he had his squad take to the air, to protect them. Cell simply hadn't gotten high enough into the air to also be protected.

Moments later, the pink creature fell apart, falling into four pieces. The red armored warrior barked a command and the other warriors pointed cannons strapped to the back of their right arms at the remains of the creature. Each blue warrior targeted one piece and seconds later the four pieces were destroyed.

Knowing that he would be spotted, Cell landed nearby the group of warriors. He put a smile on his face, hoping that it would be understood despite the fact that it was unlikely he could speak any language that was known to these warriors. Right away he was staring down the barrel of five cannons. Understandable as they had just defeated a major threat to their planets safety. He needed to try to communicate before he was blasted into pieces himself. Cell was sure that he could live through any attempts to kill him, but then he had thought that they would also lose to the pink blob and they had discovered a way to defeat him as well.

He held up a single hand, palm down and spoke in what he hoped was a friendly tone as he addressed the leader of the warriors. "I don't know if you can understand me, but I mean you or your planet no harm. I just want to talk with strong warriors and you and your warriors just fought a very impressive battle."

The red armored warrior tapped a button on the side of his helmet, and although nothing physical happened that Cell could tell, he couldn't escape the feeling that he was being scanned somehow.

The group of warriors kept their weapons pointed at him for long moments. Finally their leader spoke again, this time addressing Cell. "There is darkness within your Ki reading, my friend. You also seem to be several people at once somehow, like the monster we just defeated. But you look nothing like him."

"My name is Cell. I was created from the cells of several of the top warriors on the planet that I am from, and a few from aliens that visited the planet. The darkness you sense within me comes from the cells of Frieza and King Cold."

"We know those names," the leader told him. "They were tyrants, but they were unable to touch our planet because of our advanced technology and fighting abilities."

"If you had the advantage why did you not seek to end the threat?" Cell questioned them. "That is the natural order of things after all."

"We had other problems at the time, problems that we have since solved," the leader explained. He barked a command in his language and his squad lowered their weapons. "Despite the evil within you, I sense no hostile intentions from you."

"I came here to talk, and to learn. I didn't interfere with your battle because I wasn't sure what was going on," Cell explained.

"We are called McGoveins," their leader explained. "I am known as Tainith. What can we do for you?"

"Are you the strongest warriors on this planet?" Cell questioned them.

"We are," Tainith replied.

"I would like to have a friendly spar with you then," Cell informed him.

"For what reason? We just finished killing a threat to our planet, we have no wish to kill again. Also my sensors indicate that you are far below any of us in power"

"Part of my makeup is Saiyan, and it is that part that drives me to explore the universe looking for strong warriors to fight, so that I may improve myself as a warrior," Cell explained. "As for my power, I am hiding most of it."

"The sensors take into account the likely hidden power. It measures your current power and extrapolates the possible power you could be currently hiding. You are still no match for me in this armor," Tainith explained to him. "Were we to train like this, it would provide no test for me." Motioning to two of his squad, Tainith hit a button on the side of his armor, causing it to rise up into the air, leaving him behind in a black shirt and black pants. "I will spar as you call it with you like this. It has been a long time since I have been able to have a friendly spar with one who is not of my race."

That technology if truthful was astounding. Tainith had no reason to lie to him, and besides they had just defeated a creatures whose power far exceeded his own. It had been the most terrifying power he had ever encountered. "I accept. When shall we spar? I expect you will want to rest up first so that you are at your best?"

"I require no such rest," Tainith explained to him. "My armor keeps my sustained as long as I wear it." He dropped into a fighting stance that Cell had never seen before. "What are the rules of engagement for this spar?"

"We fight till one of us gives up, but no lethal blows," Cell suggested. That was mostly so that he wouldn't get blasted by the others if he killed their leader in a spar by mistake.

"Agreed. Let us begin," Tainith responded.

* * *

_Kami's Lookout: One month before the Arrival of the Androids._

"I still don't see why you get to go in first," Vegeta grumbled as he stood with his arms crossed looking at Future Gohan. "Let me go in first, and you won't even need to train. I will crush the Androids by myself."

"We are going in first because I am the strongest warrior on this planet, end of story," Future Gohan replied to him. "And I decided to take your Gohan with me."

"I am ready Future me," Gohan assured his counterpart. Currently he was wearing an upgraded version of the Saiyan armor that he had worn on Namek.

Future Gohan had declined to take the armor, saying that he wanted nothing to do with it. Instead he wore his trademark clothing, which looked a lot like his father's other than having his name as the symbol on the back.

"Good luck Gohan," Goku started, than grinned. "I mean good luck to both of you,"

"Thanks dad," the two Gohan's answered together.

Together they walked into the HTC. As the doors swung shut behind them, Gohan turned to his future-self. "When do we get started? I want to get just as strong as you, Future me."

Future Gohan threw his bag onto one of the beds in the single bedroom. "Right away. You have five minutes to meet me out there for training."

When Gohan stepped out into the white expanse that was the main part of the HTC, he stood in shock for a moment. It was an endless amount of white space. It just hung there. _What if they got lost in here? Would they ever be able to make it out?_ He was startled out of his thoughts as he felt a hand clasp his shoulder. Turning slightly he looked up at his counterpart.

"Amazing isn't it?"

"It sure is. I don't understand how anything like this can exist. Mr. Popo said that it goes on forever," Gohan said. "It…"

"Defies physics as we understand it," Future Gohan finished. He smiled at the look of shock on the face of his younger self. "Hey I had to study just as much as you do before the arrival of the Androids. Sometimes I wonder how I would have turned out if they had never showed up." His expression turned serious again. "We are training in here to make sure that you and everyone else in this timeline get the chance to find out what their lives will be life free of the terror of the Androids."

"Right," Gohan confirmed. For him it would also allow him to put the nightmares he had been having to rest. He was the one that was going to make all of the difference. The wild card as his future-self called him. He couldn't just count on his dad or Piccolo to save the day again, he needed to be able to depend on himself. The Supreme Kai, himself said that he had greater things in store, greater fights ahead.

"A couple of rules before we begin," Future Gohan said, snapping his past-self out of his inner thoughts. "First you are not to go out here without me for any reason. I don't want you getting lost. You are always to keep a fix on my Ki signal while we are in here. Should you ever get lost, you can use it to guide yourself in safely."

"I understand," Gohan responded to that. That made perfect sense after all.

"Second we are here to train, not for any other reason. We are going to push our bodies beyond their breaking points…on a daily basis. That should make for a good warmup. This will be the hardest year of your entire life, and mine. I won't hold back with my training, and I won't be cutting you any slack either. If you can't handle that, leave now."

It couldn't be any harder than training with King Kai, Gohan reflected. "I am ready," he assured his future-self.

"Also one more thing, this might take some getting used to as well, but the gravity in the white space is ten times Earth normal gravity. I trained in the gravity chamber of the spaceship, so that is no issue for me, but it might bother you at first. Don't worry though your body will get used to it."

"The gravity on King Kai's planet is also ten times Earth normal. And King Kai made me train wearing weighted clothing at all times. So it won't be an issue. I am still not adjusted to how light my body feels without the weighted clothing on." Gohan told his future-self.

"Why are you just standing there? Get warmed up so we can get started."

"Right!" Gohan started to do stretches. Soon he was ready and he transformed into a Super Saiyan. "Ready?" he asked as he charged forward, engaging in the first of many spars with his future-self.

**Three Months after entering**

"Ahhhhh!" Gohan screamed as he attempted to push his power to the next level in order to match his future-self. He fell to his knees as his energy gave out and his hair returned to normal. "I can't do it, I don't think I am cut out for this," he gasped.

"That is the attitude of a quieter. You are me, if I can do it, so can you."

"But my body," Gohan protested. He climbed up off the ground. "Besides, I can already almost keep up with you, the muscles slow you down a lot. And you're not getting much stronger."

"You shouldn't be able to keep up with me given the vast gap in our power levels," Future Gohan said. "Yet somehow you can, you can even land hits. Why? What am I missing? Where is the next step?"

"What if we stayed as Super Saiyans?" Gohan asked Future Gohan.

"What? No that wouldn't work, our bodies would burn out from the energy needed to maintain the form. We could die if we forced our bodies to maintain the Super Saiyan state. It is meant for combat only. Besides my form allows me to ascend beyond the limits of a regular Super Saiyan."

"Think about it, what if we didn't need to use any energy to ascend? We could have way better stamina if we didn't waste energy so recklessly."

That was...a really good idea. Of course it should be given who it came from. Such a benefit would allow them to match the stamina of the Androids long enough to overpower them. Just in case the Androids were somehow more powerful here than they were in his timeline. "Alright let's try that. Starting now we will learn to live as Super Saiyans," Future Gohan stated.

**Eleven Months after entering**

They were dead even. Future Gohan couldn't believe what he was seeing as both of them flared their auras. How had Gohan gained power so quickly? A month ago he had sent him off deep into the HTC, with instructions to learn to control his anger. Their last fight before that had almost resulted in serious, permanent injury for him, when Gohan had lost his temper and engulfed him with a blast. If it hadn't been for a ready stock of Senzu beans, he would have lost his left arm. Gohan's temper had been getting steadily worse as their time in the chamber rolled on. The place was really getting to him for some reason. Hence being sent off on his own for a month. And now, now he was back, and they had an exactly equal power level. How exactly would he stop Gohan if he snapped now?

"You don't need to hold back," Gohan mentioned as he noticed their power levels were exactly the same.

"I am not holding back. You have gained an incredible amount of power in a very short time, and I am proud of you. Whatever training you did out there really paid off."

Gohan shrugged at that. "I mostly did what Mr. Piccolo taught me to do, I looked inside to try find the reason for my anger." He let his aura fade away as he spoke, retaining the calm Super Saiyan form that both of them had been using for months now. "I never have had that much time alone to just figure things out, but I was able to make some connections in my mind after about two weeks. I spent the last two weeks training hard."

Two weeks? He had gained that much power in two weeks? While training alone? Amazing. Although that wasn't important, what was important was that Gohan appeared so calm and collected now. "Let's test out what you have learned," he said getting into his stance.

Across the way, Gohan got into a stance that was as much the form of the King Kai as it was demon or turtle. Gohan knew that he had the edge in the skills department, with his extra training from King Kai. Now with their powers even he could finally start winning spars on a regular basis. He cupped his hands to his side. "Ka-ma-ha-ma-ha!" he shouted a blue beam fired forward from his hands.

Another beam met it in midair as they struggled to push the other one back.

This was however how Gohan operated now, Future Gohan knew. He would wait till the last moment and then use his instant movement to get behind him, blasting him away. Well not this time, this time he had a counter ready for him. Weakening the power of his beam every so slightly, Future Gohan began to gather energy for another attack. He dug in as he was pushed back slowly due to the reduced power.

"Ha!" Gohan said as he walked his beam forward. "I am going to win this fight! Give up now while you still can!" Suddenly all resistance ceased as his beam blew through the other one and struck Future Gohan. Smoke covered the area as Gohan waited to see the results of the attack. He could still feel the Ki signal of his future-self, but it was really strange, like it was being masked or something. But it should be impossible to mask at this close range. No, not masked, the signal was wavering in and out. He sensed movement in the air currents behind him, and he spun with his arms already up to block an attack.

That however left him wide open to the main attack, which was aimed at his legs. A sword made of Ki cut his legs out from under him, leaving him unable to stand. "Ouch!" he yelled as blood poured out of the wounds on his legs. "What the hell? I thought we agreed no more serious injuries," he protested.

"Foolish mistake," Future Gohan scoffed at him.

Forcing himself to his feet despite his extensive injuries Gohan stared back at him. "What are you talking about? You broke a rule."

"The enemy only plays by one rule...win at all costs," Future Gohan reminded him.

"That is a cheap way of achieving victory," Gohan countered. "That isn't worthy of a fighter of your skill level. Fight me head on after I get a bean, and you will lose to me."

Future Gohan had opted for the cheap victory to see how Gohan would respond when lost in his anger. His every action was calculated to push Gohan over the edge, while he was weakened enough to be stopped. Crossing his arms over his chest, he smirked. "So you are going to just up and leave because the other side doesn't play fair? I thought I taught you better than that."

"You want to play that way?" Gohan asked his future-self. His aura flared as anger seeped into it.

Good, he was starting to get angry. "There is no playing, this is life and death, and right now you are dead because you can't defend yourself," Future Gohan chided him. "It's been nine months and yet you haven't grasped that most important concept. You would think that being dead would have taught you something useful," he jabbed at his past counterpart.

Suddenly, Gohan stood straighter as his aura relaxed for a moment before bursting outward with an intensity that forced Future Gohan to raise his guard and take several steps backwards.

The wounds on Gohan's legs stopped bleeding as this outburst of power burned them closed. He strode forward as if he hadn't just lost a ton of blood, his aura throwing off energy in waves around him. Then everything calmed down, and his aura faded back to normal.

"Cool trick," Future Gohan said as he lowered his guard in response. "When did you learn that you could heal yourself with Ki?"

"It all makes sense now," Gohan muttered to himself.

"What makes sense?"

"The connections. My anger and my power," Gohan attempted to explain. "My power was always tied to my anger, and you told me to go learn to not be angry, but that was wrong."

"Wrong how?" Future Gohan reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a Senzu tossing it to Gohan.

Catching it, Gohan quickly ate it before going on. "My anger opens the gate to my hidden power...but I know how to keep that gate open now."

"You can tap into the power that your anger gives you at will?" Future Gohan questioned him. "That is quite impressive. And useful."

Gohan shook his head at that. "Not tap into it, bring it all out at once."

"Won't that cause burnout?"

"Not if it's stable and flows freely," Gohan attempted to explain. "Look let me show you." His power restored by the Senzu bean, Gohan began to push his aura past his earlier limit, screaming as he did so. His aura expanded rapidly outward, and had the HTC been capable of taking damage, Gohan would be currently standing a massive crater. As it was his steps left the first ever cracks in the floor of the chamber. His Ki almost doubled as he kept screaming. Lightning bolts crackled around his aura as he finished his transformation. Panting he stood there having reached the next level.

As Future Gohan looked on in amazement, Gohan fell to the ground as his hair returned back to its black color. Pushing his power high enough to ascend had required every bit of power that the young boy had possessed.

Moving rapidly, Future Gohan lifted him up, bringing him back to into the bedroom. Gohan was asleep. "Sleep well past-me, tomorrow we get back to training. That form won't you do any good if you can't use it in combat."

**364 Days after Entering**

Throwing his hands forward, Future Gohan pushed the Masenko wave away from him, sending it deflecting into the distance behind him. The Full Power Super Saiyan panted. They had been training hard for eight hours now, and they still weren't out of energy. This form was amazing, it only used energy when they were in combat. He held up a hand to signal that they should stop for the day.

"Had enough already?" Gohan teased his Future counterpart. In truth, he was just as tired. He was glad to be stopping for the day. Going into the chamber a year ago, he never would have thought that it was possible to improve this much. "So what do you want to do once we leave the chamber?"

Future Gohan shrugged. "I don't think that we need to train anymore, we need to rest our bodies and allow them to recover. I think that in the downtime, we should just relax. We should be able to beat the Androids at this point. This new form takes away their advantage in stamina. "

"How about I show you around the planet?" Gohan suggested.

"Sounds good, it is a good way to remind ourselves exactly what we are fighting for. The fate of the entire world rests on our shoulders. This time we won't fail," Future Gohan vowed.

* * *

_Kami's Lookout: Outside the HTC: The Next Day._

Vegeta got more and more frustrated as the minutes ticked onward. He glanced up at the giant clock outside of the HTC. "Where are they? They should be out by now."

"Relax, I am sure they are just getting in some last minute training," Goku told him.

"They are just wasting their time, when I get done, I will crush the Androids single handily," Vegeta told him.

"Didn't you learn anything about the value of teamwork from our time in space?"

"Didn't you learn anything about the concept of Saiyan honor Kakarot?" Vegeta countered. "True Saiyans fight alone."

"These Androids are too dangerous to take risks with like that," Goku scolded him. "What if they win, and they hurt Bulma...or Trunks?"

"I won't allow that to happen," Vegeta vowed. He turned to Future Trunks who was standing there waiting along with him. "You better be ready boy. I won't allow any slacking or anything to hold me back once we are in there."

"So you will train me?" Future Trunks said, his eyes lighting up at the prospect. He had wanted to spend time with his father ever since he had got here. They hadn't really had much time together on the spaceship, and Vegeta wasn't one to talk much anyway.

"I didn't say that boy, you would just slow me down. But the woman would be displeased if something bad happened to you, and I don't want to have to put up with her endless complaining. So you better be ready to take care of yourself before you enter. I don't have time to waste on babysitting you." Vegeta responded his voice cold.

"Come on Vegeta, that isn't fair," Goku protested. "Trunks is a strong warrior."

Vegeta waved the protest off as though it didn't exist. "He has improved, I will give him that," he said with the air of someone who was doing a great favor by even admitting that much.

"So why won't you train him," Goku asked.

"He lacks spine," Vegeta replied. "I won't waste my time on him as he currently is."

"I have been fighting the Androids since I was a teenager," Future Trunks protested. "Despite being scared out of mind and being totally overpowered, I fought them again and again, to save lives."

"I have been fighting since I could walk boy," Vegeta said. "Your actions in your timeline were foolish at best."

"Saving others is never foolish!"

"Instead of fighting countless hopeless battles, you should have been training, making your only goal to get strong enough to defeat the Androids. Instead you risked your life again and again in battles you knew you couldn't win. What would happen to the people of your timeline if both of you died? Who would defend it then against the Androids and other threats? Who would defend your mother with you dead by way of stupid heroics?"

"I...we..." Trunks stuttered to a stop as the implications of what Vegeta had just said hit him. He hung his head. "Sorry father, you are correct. We were foolish."

"That isn't really fair Vegeta," Goku began.

"Isn't it though? When you lost a fight, you did whatever you had to do to get stronger. Your entire focus was on training to defeat that threat. Where was this drive from your son or mine?"

Future Trunks held up a hand to stop Goku. "Father is right, we weren't thinking long term. I won't make that mistake again."

Vegeta hid a smile at that. "That shows the wisdom that I expect of a spawn of mine," he stated. "I guess that I will train you after all. But only because it is unacceptable that a child of mine is weaker than Kakarot's spawn. Your rightful place is to be second strongest, behind myself."

Suddenly the doors of the HTC swung open. Out walked the two Gohan's in their Super Saiyan forms. Past Gohan's armor was in total shambles from his time within the chamber.

_How are they so calm? And as Super Saiyans?_ Vegeta wondered_. I can't feel any power coming off of them at all. _

"How did your training go sons?" Goku asked them a smile. "Looks like you had a rough time of it."

"We had a great time daddy," Gohan began. "I discovered..."

Future Gohan cut him off right there. "Enough talk Gohan." He turned his attention to his father. "I know you are wondering how we can be so calm as Super Saiyans. I will tell you one thing, you want to learn to maintain your Super Saiyan form for as long as possible."

"You are giving off no energy, how is that possible? You should be burning with energy as a Super Saiyan." Vegeta said.

"You have to learn to live normal life as a Super Saiyan," Gohan explained.

"That's absurd," Vegeta replied.

Gohan caught the eye of his future-self. "Shall we show them?"

Future Gohan nodded. "Fine, but only like we talked about before coming out."

Both of them clinched their fists as their power levels began to rise. Soon the entire Lookout shook from the power that were outputting.

Dende came running out to see what was wrong. "Knock it off!" he yelled at them. "You are going to shake my Lookout to pieces."

Both of them cut off their powering up at exactly the same moment. Future Gohan turned to address Vegeta. "And that was only roughly half of my power." He made no mention of how much of Gohan's power that was.

"But you were stronger than you were against Cooler," Future Trunks said with awe in his voice.

"Oh stop your hero worship," Vegeta snapped at him. "I will get even stronger, and since I am training you, you will as well. No more wasting time, we are going in now."

_HTC: Vegeta and Trunks: Past Timeline_

Trunks started to put his sword to the side as he stood across from his father in the white expanse of the chamber. Both of them were currently Super Saiyans and would strive to remain so the entire year. As Vegeta had pointed out, the form that his master, Future Gohan, had used had major weaknesses in speed, despite the extra raw power. That made it unsuitable for combat against stronger or faster foes. He stood in his fighting stance, noting how flexible the blue and white Saiyan armor he currently wore was. Neither of them had any issue with the gravity. Before he had trained on the spaceship, the increased gravity would have bothered him. But after training in gravity greater than 300 times Earth's, he hardly even noticed the increased gravity.

"Keep the sword. It will make the fight more interesting," Vegeta instructed him.

'But father, we are pretty much equal in power. You are only slightly stronger. I could hurt you seriously with this sword."

"Equal? In Ki perhaps, but not in skill which is the true measure of a warrior. Your fighting skills are laughable at best. You will need the sword just to keep up with me."

"Father I know we have Senzu beans, but I don't understand why you would to risk getting seriously hurt."

Vegeta sighed at that. No one had ever bothered to teach Trunks the true secrets of the Saiyan race. That might have been because only Kakarot's brat was left alive in his timeline. "I welcome the chance of a serious injury, and you should as well. The closer to death that a Saiyan gets, the higher the Zenkai boost that we get from recovering. Hybrids such as yourself seem to get an extra boost from the Zenkai."

"I see father. No one ever explained this to me before," Trunks told him.

"Now you will learn what it is like to train with a true Saiyan warrior. I will accept nothing less than the best you have at all times. You will be second only to me in fighting ability and power."

Trunks smiled at this for a brief second. This was the Vegeta he had always wanted to meet and get to know. "Understood."

**360 Days after entering**

"One final fight. Consider it your graduation test. After that we will rest our bodies, allowing them to recover from this battle before we leave the chamber. We will not leave looking anything but our bests. I have an image to uphold, and as my heir you have one as well," Vegeta told Future Trunks. He had gotten a lot more comfortable with explaining himself when things needed to be explained. He would never tell Future Trunks this, but he was proud if how far he had come skill wise. The power wasn't as important without the skills to back that power up.

"Get ready father, I won't hold back," Future Trunks stated. He had long since discarded his sword, tossing it aside so that he didn't depend on it as a crutch.

"As though it actually mattered," Vegeta responded as he dropped into his stance as well.

The two warriors stood across from each other, their forms a complete mirror of the other, each totally without flaws. They both moved at the same time, rising up into the air and charging forward in an exchange of blows.

* * *

_West City: Two Weeks before the Arrival of the Androids: Age 763: Past Timeline._

"This brings back memories," Future Gohan remarked to his past counterpart. "It has been over a decade since I have seen West City looking mostly intact, hell it's been years since I have seen any city that looks undamaged," he expanded as they strolled the bustling streets of West City's massive shopping district.

"What's it like?" questioned Gohan. "I mean what's it like to know that all of the cities are in ruins, because you failed to stop the Androids?" That on the surface seemed like a very harsh question, but Gohan didn't intent it as an insult. He was trying to gather images in his head to drive him onward as their training wound downward, and the day of reckoning approached.

Giving his past self a considering look, Future Gohan remained silent for several blocks. "If you really want to know, I can show you."

"What? How? Oh right, what Piccolo taught you." Without even needing to consider it, Gohan went on. "Yes I want to see."

"Why? You shouldn't be tainted with images like that. I heard about the nightmares you had after my first visit here, when I gave you the images of the very first battle with the Androids."

"It was tough...really tough. I felt like my world was never going to be right again," Gohan admitted to his future self.

"Then why?"

"Because those images, they gave me what I needed to transform early," Gohan explained. "They gave me that extra push. You were right, I had the power within me all along. I am the one that will make all the difference this time."

"Well there you go. You don't need to see the images then," he said as he stopped in front of a massive department store. "This was one of the first buildings to fall," he remarked offhand." Future Gohan pointed to a massive window that encompassed most of the top floor. "I was smashed through that window, then slammed down through each floor below it. Android 18 made sure that I felt every blow."

"Why did they attack West City?" Gohan questioned him.

"Why did they do anything? Because they were monsters," His face darkened for a moment as he thought of them. "But they paid for their crimes with a fate worse than death. And I won't let this world, this time suffer the same fate as mine did."

"Do you think we should go back into the HTC? We have another day. And I have my new form that I was able to maintain in short bursts. Shouldn't we train that form? Maybe you can reach it as well," Gohan questioned.

After a few moments of consideration, Future Gohan shook his head. "I don't think so. As a group with everyone pulling their weight we should have more than enough power to stop the Androids."

"Don't forget about Cell," Gohan pointed out.

"According to Piccolo, Cell only got as powerful as he did because he absorbed the Androids. If we kill them before he can absorb them, than Cell won't be a problem at all. I was able to do major damage to him in my first battle with him. I think he was weaker than the Androids honestly," Future Gohan explained. "Also we need to save that day in case we need it at some point later on. You were told that greater threats exist out there, beyond the Androids, threats that could impact the entire universe, not just the Earth. You very well may need that extra day at some point."

He started to speak further when both of them heard screaming behind them. The screams were followed up by explosions. "Stay behind me," he ordered his past counterpart as he lifted into the air, flying towards the source of the explosions.

"I can take care of myself," Gohan shot back, as he followed behind Future Gohan.

"I don't care, if the Androids arrived early for some reason, then that means that other things could have also changed. They could be a lot more powerful than we expect them to be for example. If that turns out to be the case you are to leave me and go get help from the others."

"I won't leave you alone to fight both of them," Gohan protested.

"You will do exactly what I tell you to do, or you will go home right now." Future Gohan said in a tone that allowed for no arguing, a tone he often had to use with Trunks. "Besides you can reach the others in a matter of moments, and bring them back to join the fight. You are too valuable to risk falling in the opening minutes of combat."

What choice did he have? "Yes future me," Gohan gave in.

They landed in front of the main branch of the West City Bank, as civilians scattered around them. The doors had been blown clean off the bank and they were on fire off to the side, but the blast had clearly come from the inside, not the outside.

As Future Gohan looked inside the bank, he saw that a bank robbery was in progress. Doing a quick count he spotted seven hostiles, with about 50 hostages. One of the bank robbers was holding a rocket launcher. The leader of the bank robbery was currently speaking.

"Okay this is how it is going to work. Everyone will do exactly what they are fucking told, and we won't have to blow anyone's head off," the short, well dressed bank robber explained to the hostages and workers of the bank. His tiger mask looked out of place with his nicely tailored suit, but it did an effective job of hiding his face.

Future Gohan stepped fully into the bank so that he was in clear sight of the bank robbers. He gave them a feral grin before he spoke. "Afternoon gentlemen."

After years of fighting Androids, simple bank robbers were going to be a pleasure to deal with. He noticed that Gohan was coming up to the side of him, ready to back him up. "Be ready to get everyone out of harm's way," he instructed his counterpart mentally.

"Got it," Gohan replied the same way.

Turning his attention back to the bank robbers he noticed that they had their guns, and in one case a rocket launcher pointed at him.

"Show us your hands, you and the boy are both our hostages now," the leader of the group snapped at them. "You can come sit down with the rest of our hostages, don't worry there is room. If we acquire too many hostages we will just kill a feel to make sure the cops know we are serious." He turned his attention more fully to Gohan, seeing the resemblance and believing that Gohan was the child of Future Gohan. "But don't worry, we won't kill your child...he is kind of cute. We don't go in for child murder, we have standards after all." He flashed a quick smile at Gohan, before turning his attention back to the elder of the pair. "But unless you want him to grow up without a daddy, I suggest you do exactly what I tell you to do."

Future Gohan stood throughout the entire speech with his arms crossed over his chest as neither he nor Gohan made any move.

The leader's skin flushed red as he gestured with his assault rifle. "What are you hard of hearing? Do you have a death wish? I gave you an order and I expect it to be followed. Now move!"

"I have a counter offer," Future Gohan began as he still didn't move or uncross his arms.

This got him a barked laugh, which cut off quickly. "This should be good. What do you possibly have to offer us that we would care about?"

"Your lives."

"Oh, look at that men, we have ourselves a practical joker. Too bad only I get to make the jokes in this band."

"Last chance," Future Gohan said. "Put you weapons down, or I will hurt you. And I will enjoy every second of it."

With all eyes locked on Future Gohan, no one noticed that Gohan had vanished where he stood, appearing behind the bank robbers in the middle of the largest group of hostages, all who looked totally stunned to see him just appear out of thin air. "Everyone join hands," he instructed them quietly.

Once everyone had he touched the shoulder of the nearest hostage and in a moment he was gone, along with the entire group. Everyone reappeared in a park several blocks away. "You're safe now," he told them. "But I have to go back for the others." Another second and he was gone again.

While the robbers were still distracted with Future Gohan, he repeated this process with each group of hostages. In under a minute the entire bank was clear other than the robbers and Future Gohan.

Gohan appeared back right beside him, causing the robbers to do a double take.

"Now because of you, we have to kill some hostages," the leader explained. "Their blood is on your hands."

"Really? And what hostages would those be?" Future Gohan could have ended this at any time, but he was enjoying himself.

The leader's head snapped back as he noticed that all of his hostages were gone. "What the fuck?" He turned his full attention back to Future Gohan. "You know what? Fuck our standards. Waste both of them," He waved his hand at three of his crew. "You three go find out what happened to our fucking hostages. They couldn't have gotten far. We need them to get the out of here, otherwise the cops will eat us alive."

Future Gohan made no move to move as gunfire engulfed his body. The bullets never impacted as they hit his personal Ki field, appearing to fall to the ground before they even reached him.

"So you have some sort of trick set up that lets you deflect bullets. But that won't do you any good against a rocket launcher," the leader stated. "Waste him."

"Waste me with this rocket launcher?" Future Gohan asked as he held it up before crushing it between his hands and tossing it aside. He walked forward as the bank robbers backed up slowly. Cracking his knuckles he used super speed to appear in front of the one of the grunts. A quick yank and the man was disarmed and a light kick put the man down. In less than 30 seconds the entire gang minus the leader was out cold.

"Now for you," he said with a dark grin.

"What the hell are you?" the bank robber leader said as his voice trembled. "You're not human,"

"I am the worst pain that you have ever felt," he said as he walked towards the man who was now frozen in fear.

The leader swung at him with his fist, and Future Gohan made no move to dodge, allowing the first to impact his face and causing the leader to scream in pain as his fist shattered. The impact stunned his entire arm, leaving it immobile.

"You will be screaming for mercy, and I won't grant it. We still have five minutes before the cops arrive, and they will be the most painful five minutes any human has ever suffered. But I won't kill you, no you won't be let off that easy. You will be an example to anyone that even considers committing a crime in my city. Well, your broken, twisted body will be an example anyway. Savior your last moments of being able to move...or do anything on your own."

Throughout the entire speech, he kept his eyes locked with the robbers, resulting in the leader pissing himself out of fear.

Gohan stood rooted in shock at the words pouring out of the mouth of his future counterpart. There was no reason to be so harsh, the fight was won, and he could just knock him out and leave him for the cops. "Please Future me, there isn't any reason to do this. This isn't right."

Future Gohan reached out and grabbed the left arm of the leader, breaking it with a sickening crack, and forcing another scream from the human. "How many? How many have suffered because of your actions? How many have you hurt?" Grabbing the same arm, he twisted the shoulder until it was totally out of the socket and hanging on by only a thread.

The leader sunk to his knees, almost passing out from the pain.

A quick kick, shattered every bone in the left leg. "How many have you killed?"

Another kick shattered the bones in the right leg. "Answer me!" he yelled at the fainted leader.

Future Gohan reached out and grabbed the fallen human, imparting a jolt of Ki that woke him up. "You don't get to pass out, there is still so much more pain to inflict. You have many crimes that you have yet to pay for."

"Please...please...mercy...please..." the leader begged between sobs.

"Mercy? What do you scum such as you know about mercy?" Future Gohan slapped him in the face, shattering his jawbone. "How many have begged you for mercy as you laughed them in the face?"

He went to deliver another strike, only to have his arm caught by another much smaller arm. He glanced back to see Super Saiyan Gohan standing there.

"It's enough, you have gone too far, he doesn't deserve this, and no one deserves this." the boy stated with an edge in his voice.

"The Androids deserve this," Future Gohan spat back as he also transformed. He tossed the broken body he was holding aside so that his full focus could be on Gohan.

"This man isn't the Androids," Gohan said as he backed away, powering down. He didn't like this side of Future Gohan one bit, he was lost in his anger, lost in his hate. This was why Gohan had fought against his anger for so long, when he got mad there was no telling who he would hurt. He knew that he was capable of being just as cruel when totally lost in his anger and it scared him more than anything. He couldn't lose control, he couldn't, or he would hurt everyone around him. Better that he die than lose control like this.

"He is exactly like the Androids, preying on the weak," Future Gohan snapped back. "And I am not done hurting him, he is not done paying for his crimes."

"You are done," Gohan stated with conviction in his voice.

"Excuse me? You don't get to make that call."

"Well I am making it," Gohan transformed again, dropping into his battle stance. "If you want him, you have to go through me."

"I don't need to go through you, I can just vaporize him with my energy." Future Gohan warned him.

At this Gohan shook his head. "I won't allow that."

"You can beat me a fight after a while, but you can't do so while protecting him."

"That would have been true before we trained together in the HTC, but now I have enough an edge on you that I can. Besides I have another transformation. Don't push me, "he warned. This was good, while they were talking, Future Gohan was getting a chance to cool his anger off a bit.

"There is more to fighting than raw power. It is also the ability and willingness to use it. I slaughtered billions in space after you died, and wrecked countless planets. You aren't willing to go the depths that I have already sunk. Nor can you fully control your second transformation, by transforming you will likely kill him, and everyone without super powers in a several block radius. "

"Try me," Gohan responded.

Things were silent for long moments before Future Gohan allowed his hair to return to normal. "Good you passed my test, Gohan," he said.

Gohan also allowed his hair to return to black. "What? This entire thing was a test?"

"Yes, I had to see how you would react when the chips were down and everything was on the line. The bank situation provided me with a perfect chance to do so." Future Gohan started to leave the bank.

"But did you have to do it this way?" Gohan asked as he followed.

"Yes I had to back you into a corner to see how you would respond. I knew that you wouldn't allow me to kill him, but I wondered if you were allow him to be tortured."

"So you didn't really want to inflict all that pain? It was just part of the test?" Gohan asked, hope returning to his voice. Maybe his future self wasn't as far gone as he had feared.

"No I enjoyed that part."

* * *

_Future Timeline: McGovein Planet: Cell_

Just as Cell was about to launch the first attack he noticed tendrils of pink snaking up around Tainith, starting at his feet and working his way up his body. Before he could call out a warning, Tainith was engulfed by a massive pink blob that covered his entire body. In mere moments it was already too late as the pink monster reformed in front of everyone's eyes. Lighting crackled across his body as he took the blob into his own body. Then a startling transformation happened. The pink blob grew taller and thinner, reforming into a totally different looking creature. In fact he looked like a thicker pink version of Tainith.

"I am Majin Buu, the terror of the universe," the creature said speaking for the first time since Cell arrived. It even stood differently, mimicking the battle stance that Tainith had been in just minutes before. "It has been a long time since anything was capable of triggering my absorption reflex, but now I have been reborn, better than ever."

"What do you want?" one of the warriors asked him. "Why are you on our planet?"

"Want? Why? I want it all. Everything will bow to the power of Majin Buu, even the Gods themselves. Then everything will die or live by my choice." He paused as if considering what to say next. "The influence of the one you called Tainith is strong. I have a strange desire to spare this world. Always before I have slaughtered everything that was in my path, and now I wonder why?"

"Give us back Tainith!" one of the warriors shouted as they all leveled their guns at Majin Buu.

"That is impossible, he is a part of me now. Quite happily a part of me. I would invite you to join him, but I would gain nothing from that." Majin Buu turned to look at the floating red armor that Tainith used to wear. He waved a hand and the armor floated back over to the squad of warriors. 'Take it. I am aware of the powerful bomb installed inside that armor. Setting it off would do you no good as I would live, and when I reformed, I would crush this planet in response."

While this conversation had been going on, Cell had been focusing on his shifting, searching out a safe location to travel to. It was time to leave this world, as he couldn't hope to face a power like Majin Buu and win, not yet anyway.

"So what do you want?" one of them called out to Majin Buu.

"Take me to the designers of this armor of yours. I will absorb them and leave you in peace. Resist and I will crush you, absorb them anyway and then annihilate this entire planet."

And that was his que to leave, before Majin Buu decided to try and absorb him. Cell opened up a portal and quickly stepped through it.

* * *

_Northern Mountains: Exact Location Unknown: Dr. Gero's Lab: Past Timeline._

"So they are expecting to see Androids 17 and 18?" Dr. Gero asked Android 21.

"That is correct sir," the small, slender Android 21 told him. She had come to him asking to be made into an Android after she had hacked into his computer systems. She was his only Android to fully retain the memories of her life before becoming an Android. As such she was easily his most devoted servant and had assisted him in creating Android 22, along with refining the other Androids before preforming the procedure to turn him into an Android himself.

"Amazing that someone from the future discovered the secret of time travel. Think of what we could do with such information Android 21," Dr. Gero said.

"We could rule it all. All of time and space," 21 said with a wicked laugh. "We could kill the ones that tormented us over and over again in every point of their history."

"We will give them exactly what they expect. Androids 17 and 18,"

"But sir, they are the most wild of the models, and the ones that can be trusted the least. They are also likely to kill Goku before they are overwhelmed by the others," 21 protested. "I want my revenge on him for killing my father."

"Nonsense. We will be nearby observing the battle. 17 and 18 are older models and thus expendable. If they lose we will learn from the battle." In truth Dr. Gero had started another project a while back, a project that required 17 and 18 to be alive for his creation to reach its full power. Still alive didn't mean that they had to be functioning. He had mentioned that project to no one, not even Android 21 though as recently he had made a couple of changes to Cell, changes that should boost the creatures power quite nicely. "They are bait for the trap that we will lay for the others. First we will take revenge on Goku, and then we will take revenge on the world."

* * *

_Unknown Location: Future Timeline. _

A pair of gray eyes snapped open. After all of these decades the moment of his revenge was at hand. His creation was awake and had regained enough power to be useful. The shadowy figure grabbed the sides of the sleeping chamber he was laying in and pulled himself up. There was much to be done and not a lot of time to do it in.

* * *

_Unknown Planet at the Hub of the Multiverse. _

On a planet full of peace and tranquility one small purple figure was anything but as she paced back and forward as a taller purple haired figure explained the current situation while he kneeled in front of her. "We can't allow this to go on .They are ruining everything. Time travel was never meant to be used this way." She shot the warrior an angry look. "It is bad enough that I had to save you before your universe totally imploded. Why are you always at the source of every problem the multiverse has with time travel anyway?"

The warrior pulled his sword from his back and laid it in front of her. "I pledged my sword and my skills to you many years ago. Over half my life ago in fact." Her temper and rants had been increasing as the situation got out further and further out of hand. "I have submitted my request to be allowed to gather more skilled warriors, but you have always rejected me in the past. I am doing all that I am capable of doing by myself. I need a team around me again."

"After what happened to your last team? I can't put another group of people in that situation. Do you know the shit that I got over that? How much paperwork I had to fill out after all of those deaths. You almost wiped an entire universe in your battle. I thought that King Yemma was going to try and choke me when all of those souls showed up at his desk at once."

The purple hair warrior shrugged at that. "I didn't believe that Saiyans could get that strong. Neither did you. It was an eye opening experience for sure. Besides they knew the risks when they signed up. The point remains that things were much calmer when I had their help."

"I can only save people from death, I can't return them from death. It isn't a question of power, it is a question of rules. So who do you suggest that I gather up? I don't see any universes that are currently on the verge of being torn apart like yours was."

"Let me go talk to some warriors from living universes. The warriors of universe ten are very impressive in combat strength and ability."

"And disrupt their lives by showing up? Unacceptable," she told him. "You know the rules on that just as much as I do."

"Their lives are going to be disrupted when he shows up anyway. He is there in every universe without fail. And he is winning. I don't have the strength to defeat him on my own. Not every version of him," the warrior protested.

"If their universe is on the verge of death and they are alive, then, and only then can they be offered the choice," she insisted in a firm voice. "That is the way the game is played."

"With all due respect, that is stupid. You know that they die in almost every single case fighting him. It is because of their unwillingness to back down that they even capable of being useful to us." the warrior explained to her once again. "Just because you can't die doesn't mean that the rest of us have that same privilege. This isn't a game to me, this is war. And universes are dying because of my…because of our failure."

"Sorry my hands are tied. Without the rules everything falls apart. We can't interfere unless the universe is on the brink."

"Pride comes before the fall, pride is blinding. My father taught me that much. It was the only thing he ever did for me, at least something good came out of his death as I learned a harsh and bitter lesson. And now we have a foe that is going to breach the walls of the multiverse. Isn't that against the rules of your little game?" the purple haired warrior asked bitterly.

"He hasn't done that yet," she pointed out to him.

"Not yet no, but he just learned how to. How long until he figures that out and goes on a rampage across all of the universes? If he absorbs power from those universes as well he will grow to be truly unstoppable."

* * *

_A/N: Hello everyone. Next chapter will see the coming of the Androids. While everyone got a massive power boost (more on that in a second) from their training in the HTC, don't expect that the battle with the Androids will be a cake walk by any means._

_Meanwhile things are going from bad to worse in the Future Timeline with the rebirth and strengthening of Majin Buu. The Future Timeline plays a big role in the fate of both timelines and the entire multiverse, so stay tuned for more on that._

_Feel free to leave guesses at what is going on in the last two scenes. I think that the answers will surprise most of you. _

_So this chapter brought on the Full Power Super Saiyan. Also known as the Mastered Super Saiyan. This form grants a power boost of +750 million. FPSSJ form is unlocked by 1) being able to maintain the Super Saiyan form outside of combat for sustained periods of time, without suffering any energy loss. 2) Being able to transform calmly, 3) being able to suppress the natural anger and blood lust that comes with the transformation. Can't be stacked with the Kaio-ken. Using this form results in no loss of speed. Once mastered FPSSJ can be maintained for as long as wanted._

_Oh one final note, I can't really respond to people who leave behind guest reviews. I don't mind negative reviews, especially those that help me become a better writer, but I can't respond to reviews unless you have an account and I can PM you if I have any questions about what you said. Also sometimes people leave reviews on topics that I can't address here because that would cause major spoilers, but I still would like to respond to them via private message, which I can't if they have a guest account._

* * *

_Power Levels: _

_Goku: 365,000,000_

_Goku Full Power Super Saiyan: 1,115,000,000_

_Vegeta: 366,000,000_

_Vegeta Full Power Super Saiyan: 1,116,000,000_

_Future Trunks: 325,000,000_

_Future Trunks Full Power Super Saiyan: 1,075,000,000_

_Future Gohan: 375,000,000_

_Future Gohan Full Power Super Saiyan: 1,125,000,000_

_Gohan: 400,000,000_

_Gohan Full Power Super Saiyan: 1,150,000,000_

_Piccolo: 500,000,000_

_Tien: 50,000,000_

_Krillin: 48,000,000_

_Yamaha: 45,000,000_

_Fat Buu Max Power: 6,000,000,000_

_Tainith: 1,800,000,000_

_Tainith Armored: 4,500,000,000_

_Cell: 2,000,000,000_

_Armored Warriors: 2,500,000,000 to 4,000,000,000_

_Majin Buu Tainith Absorbed Heavily Suppressed: 8,000,000,000_


	12. Chapter 12-Training Pays Off

**DI**

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 12- Training Pays Off.**

* * *

**_"Someday, someone will best me. But it won't be today, and it won't be you."_**

* * *

_Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer is standard. _

* * *

_May 12__th__, Age 767 Past Timeline: Sasebo: Capital city of Amenbo Island: Nine Miles Southwest of South City._

"Are we clear on the plan?" Piccolo asked the other Z-fighters gathered with him on a cliff overlooking the city. "It is very important that there are no screw ups. Android 17 and 18 are powerful, and we can't assume that events will play out exactly as they did in the Future timeline."

"We pair up for safety. You keep us all linked with each other using the abilities that your future-self discovered and passed on to you," Future Gohan stated. "I will take Trunks with me and we will crush the Androids when we discover them. It won't be hard to find them since they love to blow things up."

"If it is okay, I would rather stick by my father," Future Trunks responded.

"Surely you're not worried about me dying to these machines, not after all of the training that we did together," Vegeta commented.

Future Trunks knew that there was only one proper response to this, no matter the fact that he was indeed worried. He wasn't about to allow his father to charge off into battle alone and get killed again. 'Of course not," he lied. "I just want to fight alongside you. It has always been a dream of mine to fight at your side Father."

"Spoken like a true Saiyan," Vegeta said with a smile on his face. "I may even be generous enough to allow you an Android to play with." He turned to Piccolo. "Hurry up and do whatever it is you're going to do to link us together. This better work like you claim it does. I don't tolerate having others in my head for no reason." Despite his pride, Vegeta could see the huge tactical advantage this would lend them in a fight. Piccolo could direct whoever was needed to where they were needed. But the Androids were going to die before they really got to use it. Still a test run could be useful for more dangerous foes. The Kai's were training Gohan for something, something very dangerous to everything. And Vegeta, intended to be in on that battle. He wasn't about to let the brat of Kakarot hog all of the glory in combat.

"Everyone lower their mental defenses," Piccolo commanded. After everyone had, he reached out mentally to each Z-Fighter, connecting them to his mind and through the filters in his mind, to each other. "I will be able to monitor the progress of your search through all of your eyes. To communicate with me or each other, you only need to send a focused thought message out. I will do the rest."

Seeing no more reason to stand around, Vegeta took off into the air, with Future Trunks flying right behind him.

"Will you be able to defend yourself Mr. Piccolo while you do this?" Gohan asked his mentor.

"I will be fine. The Androids aren't looking for me. Besides with my new power and knowledge I should easily be able to defend myself. My speech earlier was to stop careless mistakes that could cost us lives."

"I would feel better if someone stayed to guard you," Future Gohan commented. "I lost you once, I don't want to lose you again."

"I will do it," Gohan started to say.

"It can't be you, you are our trump card," Future Gohan told him. "It also can't be Goku since the Androids will be searching for him."

"We will guard him," Tien said pointing to himself, Krillin and Yamcha.

The others nodded at this statement.

"Right, dad you come with me and mini me. It doesn't matter how strong the Androids are, they can't beat the three of us," Future Gohan said.

* * *

_The Hub: Outside of the Multiverse: Home of the Kai of Time._

"You're still mad at me aren't you?" Time Patrol Trunks asked the Kai of Time.

"Nonsense, Trunks. I am just making sure you are fully recovered from your last ordeal before sending you out again. Other groups of Time Patrollers can handle situations until then."

"I didn't know that the Saiyans could get so powerful without transforming into Super Saiyans first. They were more than a match for my Super Saiyan 2 form," Trunks admitted. "And my mistake cost me my team and caused the death of yet another universe. I understand if you have lost faith in my abilities to lead a team," he said with his voice low.

"It is truly not your fault, Trunks. The Saiyans got around the power limits by using fruit from the Tree of Might."

"Then why?"

"Because you also ate from the Tree of Might while on your last mission," The Kai of Time explained to him.

Trunks looked puzzled at this. "I did what I needed to do in order to stop their threat. Besides it greatly increased my power. I fail to see how that could be anything but a good thing."

"What you did is against the rules," the Kai of Time told him. "More than that, what you did was a pervasion of everything we Kai's stand for.

"I did what I did with the best of intentions," Trunks argued. "I really had no choice. Otherwise I would have died. Which would serve nobody. I thought if I could stop them, I could save the universe. I didn't count on it being destroyed another way."

"I would have rather you go down fighting, for me to retrieve you from the World of the Dead." The Kai of Time told him.

"I thought that we were stuck in the universe of our death? How would that work if the universe died with me in it?"

"Rules can be bent from time to time. Minor rules," the Kai clarified, seeing Trunks starting to speak again. "You broke our central rule. Even more important than our non-interference rule, which recent events have forced us to put aside for the moment. Think Trunks, think were the energy for the fruit came from."

"I…it came from the planet. But they were already dead. Anything that lived through the tree, couldn't have lived through our battle."

"Yet any Kai that took your actions would be cast out and stripped of their title." She gave him a slight smile. "But you aren't a Kai, and you didn't know. I can sense your truthfulness." The smile vanished as an alarm chimed on the giant crystal view screen in front of them. We have another situation. One that requires our attention. As much as I would like to give you further rest, I don't have that luxury, you are the only free person to respond. All other teams are currently out on assignment. Buu is growing stronger in Universe 10. The future timeline. He has gained awareness and the knowledge of how to spread his reign of terror. The planet he was on had knowledge of time travel and other universes. It is only a matter of time before he puts the two together."

Trunks viewed the crystal view screen for long moments before stopping. "I can't stop him, not alone. I need a team. He is already beyond my power level."

The Kai of Time sighed, her short purple figure pacing as she considered what to do next. "You can borrow the warriors that you need for this battle. But only from within the universe," she told him. This had long been a source of disagreement between them. Trunks spent his downtime searching for powerful warriors across each universe. He wanted to assemble a team of them to put an end to Buu in every universe. She wouldn't allow so many universes to be disrupted. Not unless there was no other option.

_Well that was something at least._ Trunks grabbed his sword before programming his watch to take him to Universe 10.

* * *

_May 12__th__, Age 767 Past Timeline: Sasebo: Capital city of Amenbo Island: Nine Miles Southwest of South City._

"They have arrived as planned?" Dr. Gero asked Android 22.

"Correct. According to my sensors, they have split up," the hulking Android 22 answered.

"That will make them easy targets," Android 21 pouted. "And here I was hoping for a fun battle."

Dr. Gero favored her with a smile. "Don't underestimate them. They surely have been training for this moment. Otherwise what was the point of these future warriors coming back to warn them?"

"That means that we won in the future," Android 21 reminded him.

"Which by no means insures that all of us lived through it," Dr. Gero scolded her. "And clearly we failed to some degree by not hunting them down before they could learn to travel back in time."

"Androids 17 and 18 are approaching Vegeta and the future warrior Trunks," Android 22 broke in. "Calculating battle odds. 75% probability of the deaths of Vegeta and Trunks."

"Can we go watch? Please…grandpa?" Android 21 asked.

Dr. Gero glared at her. "I told you not to refer to me that way when we are in public."

Android 21 shrugged at that. 'Everyone on this island is dead anyway."

Androids 19 and 16 are on an intercept course with Goku, Gohan and the future warrior also going by the name of Gohan," Android 22 interjected. "Suggested course of action is intervention. Failure to do so will result in the early death of Goku."

Android 21 grimaced at that and she took off into the air, flying in the direction that 22 indicated.

* * *

Trunks flew high above the city, scanning it for any signs of Android 17 and 18. To his left in the distance a city block blew up, bringing him to a screeching halt. Son of a bitch. "Father, I have found the Androids. Half a mile to west from my location," Trunks sent through their mental link.

"On my way," Vegeta responded the same way.

They converged, landing back to back in the ruins of the city block, their eyes scanning for any signs of the Androids.

"Vegeta. You aren't who we wanted to draw in with our display. But you will make a nice warmup for the real fight," Android 18 told him as she stepped out in front of him.

"Or maybe if you tell us where Goku is, we will let you walk from this fight. Our fight isn't with you," 17 offered as he stepped up to stand next to his sister.

"I am sorry to inform you that your date with Kakarot has been canceled," Vegeta told them with a chuckle. "He had other plans. But I can spare a few minutes of my time to welcome you in his place."

"Don't be foolish, we know everything about you and you know nothing about us," 17 told him.

"We know that you are monsters, killing machines," Trunks spat at 17.

"Then be reasonable. We will let you go if you tell us where Goku is. Now. We are in a bit of hurry you see, as we wish to get to Goku before the others," 17 told them.

"Others? I see both of you right here," Trunks questioned him.

"Our esteemed creator decided that it would be best to create more of us," 18 answered. "What was it that he said as his reasoning 17?"

"We act like spoiled teenagers," 17 said with a chuckle. "You know between the four of us, after we finish with Goku, we are going to kill the old man. It is the only way to shut him up."

"His pet might get offended by that, so might the big guy," 18 pointed out.

"Nonsense, the big guy will see the light and throw in with us. Why wouldn't he when we are clearly the best models? Think of all the fun the three of us can have with this world once the old man is dead."

"You won't be doing anything because we are going to kill you today. Right now in fact," Trunks told them, his anger rising by the moment. _They were exactly like his Androids, and now there were more of them to deal with._ "Be alert, we have encountered 17 and 18, but there are more Androids to deal with. We have an unknown number of hostiles. We will call for backup should it be required," he warned the others mentally. He had opted to leave his sword at home. Training with his father had shown him that he depended far too much on that weapon.

* * *

"We are aware of the other Androids," Future Gohan sent back as he blocked an attack from Android 19. So far the fight had been very simple, as Android 19 hadn't been able to do land any hits on him. _For the moment he was content to remain on the defensive, feeling out the weaknesses and fighting style of his Android foe._ Out of the corner of his eye he saw his father fighting with a massive Android in a green jacket, 16 by name.

Well this was boring, Goku thought as he effortlessly dodged the attacks of Android 16. Already the metal body of his foe was dented from his return blows. And he wasn't even close to the limits of his base form yet. _They had trained for three years for this?_

"Don't get cocky," Piccolo told him as he flew towards the fight, one eye on the city and another on the fights currently going on. "Kill him. They are too deadly to play games with."

"Aww, come on Piccolo, I want to see what this Android can really do," Goku protested as he kicked Android 16 through a building.

"Remember Cooler, remember what that cost you…what that cost us," Piccolo reminded him.

Meanwhile, Future Gohan had just made a startling discovery. His foe could absorb energy through his hands. "Dad be careful," he called out. "This one can absorb energy. He already took a bit of mine." Turning his full attention back to Android 19, he tried to devise a plan. I can't blast him, because he will absorb my energy, unless… "Gohan want to lend a hand?" he called out to his past counterpart. "He can't absorb both of our energy blasts at once."

"Sure. I was afraid that I wasn't going to get anything to do in this fight," Gohan responded as he rose up into the air. "Let's finish this one quickly."

"Right," Future Gohan responded as he dropped a building on Android 19 by slamming him through it. "That should buy us a few moments."

Gohan began to charge up a Maseko as his future counterpart did the same.

When Android 19 blasted out of the rubble he found himself hit in the face by a Maseko. As he raised his hands to absorb the blast, a second Maseko hit him in the back, pushing him into the first one. Very quickly the combined blasts overwhelmed his defenses causing a large explosion as the two blasts met.

* * *

"Don't be foolish Vegeta, we know all of your movies and abilities, and you know nothing of ours," Android 17 attempted to reason with him. "You may find this hard to believe, but we have no desire to kill you."

"Enough talk, Father. Let's kill them," Trunks said.

"Stay out of this, Trunks," Vegeta answered. "You, 17, I will fight you one against one. If you win I will tell you where Goku is. If I win you tell me where to find these other Androids."

"Father you can't! Don't repeat mistakes that already happened," Trunks pleaded.

"Quiet boy. All of that training we did, I will test my strength out. You are to stay out of this fight." Vegeta told him.

Android 17 watched the exchange before smiling. "I accept your offer Vegeta. He got into his fighting stance.

"Don't mess around 17, we can play with Vegeta later after we kill Goku," 18 reminded him.

Android flashed a grin at her. "Five minutes. That is all this fight will take." He turned to Vegeta. "Please make the first move."

Vegeta allowed his base power to explode around him. "As you wish. I might even spare you from the scrap heap if you provide me the information that I am looking for." With that he vanished, appearing behind Android 17.

"17 look out behind you," 18 called out. Damn it Vegeta was fast. She had hardly been able to track his movements.

As 17 turned around, Vegeta fist hit him in the face, sending him flying backwards through the remains of a burning building. That attack was followed up by an energy wave that vaporized the building and created a trench of rubble half a mile long.

"17!" 18 called out in fear. _That had been a powerful attack, beyond what her database said that Vegeta was capable of. They might have to active their upgrades, and those were unstable._

17 pulled himself out of the rubble, the top half of his shirt burned off from the energy wave. He was no longer smiling. _This fight was going to take longer than expected. Somehow Vegeta had gained a lot of power. Nothing that he couldn't handle though. Even if Vegeta was close to his power, he didn't have unlimited energy and would tire out._ Raising both hands, he thrust them out in front of his chest. Pink energy formed in each hand. "Try this out, Vegeta. Photon Blitz!" Dozens of pink balls of energy shot out of his hand headed towards Vegeta. As they flew they expanded into fully formed energy blasts.

As the energy blasts flew towards him, Vegeta stood impassively and waited. Right before the first energy blast would have hit, he vanished again. This time he appeared right in front of a startled Android 17. Extending his left hand palm outward, Vegeta chuckled. "Try out my Big Bang Attack!" A massive ball of blue energy engulfed Android 17, and the resulting explosion hit with the force of a small tactical nuke.

_Shit! Damn it Father! Trunks thought as he rose up into the air to get clear of the blast radius. At this rate there won't be a city left to save. We are doing the job of the Androids for them_. Across from him he saw the shocked expression of Android 18 as her brother was blown to hell._ Payback was going to be a bitch. Assuming that they weren't needed by the others, he was going to enjoy taking Android 18 apart piece by piece._

* * *

"Error in calculation, "Android 22 reported as they flew towards the battle between Android 19, 16 and the Z-fighters. "Adjusting to factor in new data."

"What the hell is he talking about?" 21 asked Dr. Gero.

"Defeat likely, intervention required," 22 said as his processors continued to process the new data. "Data signals of Androids 19 and 16 have vanished. Goku has a higher power level than expected."

"They lost 22?" Dr. Gero asked.

"Correct," 22 replied.

"Well granddaughter, it appears that you are going to get the fight you wanted after all," Dr. Gero told Android 21.

"I want Goku, you promised me Goku. I don't care what you do with the other two. But I intend to kill Goku very slowly," 21 informed both of them.

"22 do you want to dispose of the child?" Dr. Gero asked him.

"Yes. His Ki will provide a welcome boost to my power reserves."

"I guess that leaves the other Gohan for me. Before he dies he will divulge how he managed to travel in time to me," Dr. Gero said with a wicked grin. "Just think, we will rule it all. All of time will bow to our whim."

* * *

_A/N: Wow it has been a long time since I posted a chapter. Life has kept me busy, but in a good way. The good news is that I have this story fully plotted out. I know exactly how it is going to end. Now I just have to turn my outlines into complete chapters. Next chapter the real fights begin. _

_No power levels this chapter. Onward to the reviews._

* * *

_Reviews_

_Q: It is odd isn't it? Only once that I can remember did a Saiyan raise his power level by letting people beat on him till he was almost dead, Vegeta on Namek. It is the ultimate power leveling cheat and they never used it._

**A: I have theory about this. First, I want to say that this is only my theory, it isn't supported by anything directly stated in the Manga or the Anime, but I came up with it because of what wasn't said. I think that as a Saiyan grows more powerful, the effect of Zenkai boosts fade over time. They become less and less until they give almost no boost. This to me explains how in 13+ years Future Gohan didn't get strong enough to defeat the Androids. Through sheer number of beatings alone, he should have been far stronger, if the Zenkai boosts preformed as we saw them early on in the show. But they stopped mentioning them at all by the Android arc. I have to think that this is because the gains if any were so small that they weren't mentioning. But then we have a few outliers, such as Super Perfect Cell reaching around SSj2 Teen Gohan levels and again in the Buu Saga, where Gohan clearly gains a big Zenkai boost after being wrecked by Fat Buu. A couple of days of training with the Z-Sword couldn't restore his full power lost from seven years of not training, but a Zenkai boost could.**

**I think if it had been allowed to have been exploited throughout the entire series, it would have robbed the series of any of the drama. The Saiyans would have grown too powerful too quickly.**

_Q: Hello my name is Darrius and I want you to please continue updating your story it's getting better and better now that I can't wait till you update your story but yeah Please continue to update your fanfiction it's getting better and better now so please continue to updating please and thank you._

**A: Thank you for the kind words. Sorry for the long wait.**

_Q: Sorry for the late review on my part I'm usually go chapter by chapter but I couldn't stop reading this story in order to do that I apologize for getting hooked. Amazing story in truth one of the best FanFics I've read in a while, can't wait to see what else does the universe has in store for M. Gohan and the rest of the gang._

**A: Wow, everyone is being so kind in reviews lately. Thank you very much. I promise you it is worth the wait. I can't wait to write it and share it with everyone.**

_Q: Hello!_

_This is going to be a long review... hope you don't mind reading it fully. I like to sum it up in some points:_

_1) Despite being deeply fond of Gohan as a protagonist, I think these two are widely out of character. Gohan was portrayed as a sweet boy, merciful and kind. I do see Mirai Gohan has suffered from the events in his timeline, yet he keeps himself kind and cheerful in cannon. My first notice of this change is Mirai Gohan ordering Trunks around. I agree he should have had a rougher grip in Trunks in cannon, so said change didn't take much of my concern._

_However he does reproach Goku for not sharing information such as HTC, furthermore setting up a sadistic side by sending Garlic Jr to the Sun. This obviously echoes in little Gohan, who upon foreseeing his mentor and friends slaughtered in battle traumatizes to the point of losing himself, which I reckon his future self told him no to._

_As, little Gohan pinpoints, these actions are more of Vegeta's mindset than Gohan's, his father of Piccolo's. Although I truly dislike this trip, I hope both Gohans regain his true self again-or at least go to terms with whatever pocks them._

_2) I agree Chi Chi overstates things, holding a hard grip upon Gohan quitting training, not seeing Piccolo, studying hard, etc. However, I believe she's being an overprotective mother who, despite not using the best ways, only desires her only child to have a childhood free of battles, blood and terror._

_As I remember reading in your author notes once, you believe Chi Chi's influence is what makes Gohan an scholar. True to be told, I utterly disagree. As can be seen later on, after Goku's death in Cell Saga, Chi Chi does not push Goten as much as she did with Gohan for several reasons; from which the main ones would be lack of money and her desire of keeping Goku's memory as discovering Goten was indeed taken after his father. Had she seen potential for school (don't really know how to write it down, hope you get the idea) in Goten, she would have been as strict as she was with Gohan._

_Moreover, I reckon Gohan snapped after Android 16 pinpoints sometimes achieving peace takes much more than just smooth-talking or diplomacy; which I believe was the right way to awake whichever warrior potential Gohan has. It was a concealing between his peaceful self and his warrior blood as a Saiyan. As a hybrid, I believe Gohan has both a peaceful side and warrior one._

_3) Piccolo is indeed a big influence in Gohan's upgrowth, which I can see developed greatly. This is a point I want to flatter. I have never seen such a close bond between these characters before, at least not as well understood as you write it. Congratulations!_

_4)The history has a great plot. I can not foresee which way it may take. Situations pop up from unexpected sources. I never thought Garlic Jr or Cooler would ever appear when I first found this fanfic. I may add you described perfectly what could have happened to the Lookout as it's never showed in the anime; however I doubt the Androids ever find it given Android 18 was clueless where she was after waking up in there upon Cell's tournament, which suggest they never knew such place existed. I must ask, why do you think Mr. Popo never granted help to Mirai Gohan by showing him the HTC or else? Or did he?_

_5) Although I have read something about Goku and Gohan's bonding, I believe this fanfic lack the touching parts of father and son. I reckon Goku would have been concerned about such drastic changes in Mirai Gohan's personality, the ones exposed in point 1. Goku may not receive an award for fatherhood but he has always showed deep concern and love for his son, looking after him while training in the HTC or during Frieze battle. I hope you may dig a little deeper in this._

_6) I may pinpoint a little trip over chronology. Trunks is only one year older than Goten, which sets Goten's conception before the rise of the Androids as Trunks is over a year older by then, but in the other timeline, the future one, Goten never existed. I suggest his conception was in the lapse of those six months after Goku's passing._

_I hope you can answer soon. Keep it up! I love little Gohan getting a major role as it should have been. Did you know Toriysma planned for Gohan to be main character in Buu Saga but fans didn't approve so he backed off? I wish he didn't._

_The little Vampire_

**A: I answered this fully in PM, but I want to cover a few of the main points again here.**

**1) I agree that both Gohan's are much different from their canon versions. They are meant to be for a couple of reasons. First is the different events that have happened in this story. Second is because of their influence on each other. For the little Gohan, the images transferred to him by his future-self have continued to plague and torment him. This has darkened his mood considerably. He got the brunt of how his future-self felt that day when he watched all of his friends die and the hands of the Androids while he was powerless to stop it as he had been many other times before. Then you have over 10 years of battles, over 10 years of losing, over 10 years of being unable to stop the terror that is the Androids. I feel as if Future Gohan blames himself for the state of his world, and I wrote him that way. His one shining light is Trunks (and Bulma to some extent). Past Gohan got all of those images, all of the death dropped right into his mind all at once. Death and terror on a personal level, that he...well the future him failed to stop because he wasn't strong enough. Now he is given a chance to make sure those images never happen. I showed how it changed him, how the nightmares hurt him. The long term impact will be explored more fully in later chapters.**

**Goku was wrong for not sharing that information. It could have made all of the difference, especially if Future Gohan had been able to train Trunks safely in there. Future Gohan has come to see that Vegeta was right about somethings. Sometimes you have to walk a dark path in order to achieve your goals. He is still doing it for the right reasons though. To him nothing else matters but protecting this world, making sure it doesn't become like his, and getting strong enough to kill the Androids (and later on Cell once he learns the Androids are dead). He is trying to atone for what he views as his failures, and he will do anything to achieve that goal. It doesn't matter that we see the fact that it wasn't his fault, what matters is that he feels that it is his fault.**

**The response to Garlic Jr was partly due because he trapped Piccolo inside the Dead Zone. Piccolo means a lot to both of them. Again everything came crashing down, Future Gohan felt as if he had failed Piccolo once again, and he just snapped. And I thought that was clever way to deal with an immortal. It isn't like bad guys haven't been sent into the Sun in the anime/movies.**  
**Also remember that Past Gohan was recently trained by King Kai who spoke of a threat well beyond the Androids, a threat that only Gohan could meet. All of this is a lot for a child to process. Even a child as smart as Gohan. When in doubt kids look to adults that they consider role models and Past Gohan sees his Future-Self that way.**

**I don't want to spoil anything about what will happen long term in the story, but I will say that both Gohan's are not done changing.**

**2) I never claimed that Chi-Chi is a bad mother. In fact in our world she would be a very good mom. The problem is Earth is always in danger and Gohan is one of those capable of protecting it. For her to complain about him not being able to study...he can't study if he and the entire planet is dead because he wasn't strong enough to help defend it. That is common sense, which as Chi-Chi is poorly written in the show, she seems to lack.**

**I am happy to debate with you (or anyone else) about how much of a role Chi-Chi plays in how Gohan develops. I am currently co-writing a story in which she dies giving birth to Gohan, leaving Goku alone to raise him. For that story I have done a lot of research and thinking about how big of a role Chi-Chi played in his upbringing and I have to say that while that isn't the only factor in him not wanting to be a warrior, it was a main one. Gohan is pulled between two worlds. He wants to please his mom by studying and his dad by fighting. He was forced into combat at a very young age and it did things to him that no child should have to go through. That most likely contributes to his not wanting to train in peaceful times. That and the fact that it was decided that Goku would remain the main hero of the Buu Saga. But the Buu Saga while having some very cool ideas, is easily the poorest written DBZ saga. I just struggle with the idea that Gohan would dishonor his father's last wishes for him to remain strong enough to be the protector of the Earth. He didn't have to train full time, but he should have at least maintained his power level and skills going into the Buu Saga. Instead he is considerably weaker. The in plot reason for it is because Chi-Chi insisted that he spent his full time on his studies. Which given how far ahead he was as a child is once again silly. Unless that is a standard educational level in the DBZ world. Which we have no signs that it is. In fact Gohan has come full circle recently in Dragonball Super… this next paragraph is spoilers for Super, so people who haven't seen it might want to skip it.**

**After Frieza kills Piccolo, Gohan decides that it is his fault because he let his training go so badly that he couldn't protect Piccolo. He asks for Piccolo to train him again. We don't know the extent of how much Gohan trained yet, but he does vow to keep up with his training from now on even in peaceful times so that he can protect his loved ones. I find this intriguing because it is a complete reversal of how Gohan was written at the end of Z. If this is done correctly, it will be a welcome change. They are hinting that Gohan will have a larger role in later sagas. I just want to see him defeat one more main bad guy, like he did with Cell.**

**With Goten, the idea was to bring more humor and kid fun back into the show, so he had to be strong enough to be somewhat useful. It is silly that either he or Trunks were Super Saiyans though. I don't believe the crap about them being born as natural SSJ's. They got all that power with no hard work at all. Also she was much more relaxed with him, maybe because she saw her mistakes with Gohan and didn't want to repeat them with Goten.**

**Gohan always had to be pushed to show his true power, which has been a hallmark of who he is. Even if Android 16 never speaks to him, he still would have snapped very soon. He was already on the breaking point with watching the torture of his friends. Had one of them died that would have been the push needed.**

**I agree that Gohan doesn't have the natural drive that Vegeta or Goku have as Pure Blooded Saiyans. But it is strange because we never saw any indication that Saiyans liked to train outside of Vegeta and Goku. And Vegeta only did it after he saw what it did for Goku in allowing him to become a Super Saiyan. Raditz clearly never trained beyond the basics. Gohan strikes a balance and can go either way depending on what is going on around him.**

**3) Thank you. The Gohan/Piccolo scenes are some of my favorite to write, and I try and always do them justice.**

**4)I like to pull plot elements from many different sources and weave them together in a grand tale. I am a big Dr. Who fan and I noticed watching the show that Earth is always a focal point for events that affect the entire universe. It is much the same in DBZ, and i wanted my story to reflect that. I drop hints from time to time of the greater things to come. Readers who are paying attention might get some idea of what will happen down the line, but I am holding some big reveals back as well.**  
**I think that given enough time that the Androids would have found the Lookout.**  
**Mr. Popo might have felt as if he had no right to open it without Kami's okay. Since Kami was dead...**  
**That is the in plot reason I can come up with anyway. The real reason is that AT didn't think of it. That is why some of the writing is so jarring for as much as I love the story. He came up with a lot of what was going on on the fly, and so he didn't properly lay the groundwork for some of the events ahead of time.**

**5) Goku is far from father of the year and it is debatable how much he really cares about his kids beyond their simple well-being. He is very selfish and this is reflected several times through DBZ. The focus of the story is more about the two Gohan's, but I will keep in mind that I should throw in some more father and son scenes. But consider that Goku might not know what to make of Future Gohan or the changes in his son.**

**6) I don't think I mentioned Future Goten? He didn't exist in the future ever. I made a choice to have them born around the same age in my story. The reasons for that will be explained in due time, but it is a minor change at best, and it won't have a major effect on the story.**

_Q: Wow amazing story u have bro i give it a 100/10 a like the character development of all the z fighters and how thier using thier brains to fight lol.i like how u development gohan character (past one)and future gohan he a pretty cool character but harsh in ways also it seems like he leys his anger against the androids cloud his judgement against people sometimes.i LOVE thefact ur utilizing the skills sets of everyone for example goku training the z warriors kai-ken/tien andkrillin working together on finding new moves to combine for a stronger really giving ur time,in this story i see the passion u put into your work it really inspiring and im happy i read ur story -.i see cell as a good guy in this story for my own reason_  
_...lol my favorite part is when vegeta ask frieza son what are ur last words kuriza:fuck you lmaooooo_

**A: Thank you for the kind words. I really enjoyed writing the scene between Vegeta and Kuriza. That might be one of my favorites scenes I have written in this entire story. Cell being a good guy might be a stretch, but he isn't evil. He doesn't seen a need to try and conquer planets. He just wants to fight and get stronger.**

_Q: Awesome chapter and looking forward to how things will play out. You've given us a lot of interesting little snippets which I'm looking forward to how they'll develop and how they'll impact on the story and events._

_Another perk of the Full Power Super Saiyan if they remain in it is you also don't waste power transforming and then can use that power in the fight (or they can transform the day before a battle when the fight has been scheduled like in a tournament and not have to waste/lose energy transforming when the battle starts)._

_Until the next one._

**A: I always saw it as transforming cost them no energy once they mastered the SSJ state. You are spot on about the snippets though. They are all there for good reasons that will unfold in later chapters. Some of it is going to become pretty clear shortly, others not so much.**

_Q: Based on human fighter power level, with Kaioken, they could wreck the Saiyans._

**A: No your math is off by quite a bit. Also even if they were able to pull even with the Saiyans in power, they couldn't keep up the fight for long because of the strain on their bodies.**

_Q: So bad I was hoping for a good story_

**A: Three things. 1) What makes the story bad in your eyes? I am always looking for feedback that will help me improve as a writer. 2) I am sorry you feel that way, but this story might not be for everyone. 3) Because you left a review as a guest, I couldn't PM you for more information. If you see this answer, please feel free to PM me. I have some questions for you.**


	13. Chapter 13-Super Android 21

**DI**

**Android Saga**

**Chapter 13- Super Android 21**

* * *

"_**Your attack has been rendered harmless. It is however quite pretty."**_

* * *

_May 12__th__, Age 767 Past Timeline: Sasebo: Capital city of Amenbo Island: Nine Miles Southwest of South City._

"Why do you want me dead?" Goku asked the Androids in front of him. "I mean someone always wants me dead for some reason or another."

Dr. Gero gave an evil grin. "I am Dr. Gero, creator of the Red Ribbon Army."

Goku looked puzzled. "Those guys? They were pretty weak. Other than Eighter, he was cool. So because I stopped your plan to take over the world, you created another plan to take over the world?" Goku shook his head. "So predictable. You Androids aren't going to be boring like the other two were, right? Because I don't have any interest fighting weaklings, so leave. I will spare your lives as long as you don't hurt anyone."

"Come on, Dad!" Future Gohan protested. "We can't take that chance. We can't let them escape so that he can upgrade them beyond our ability to handle."

"We are already upgraded beyond your ability to handle. What you have seen so far is the tip of our real power," Dr. Gero answered.

Goku chucked at this as he rubbed his hands together. "Well then, today might turn out to be fun after all," Getting serious he looked around. "But we can't fight here, there are too many people around. Follow me to another location and we will fight you there."

"Too many people you say?" Dr. Gero asked. "21, if you would be so kind."

"Of course Dr. Gero," she answered as she held up the hand that had been by her side, revealing a fully charged pink energy blast.

Gohan's eyes widened. "Everyone, grab on to me," he shouted.

Laughing, Android 21 fired the pink energy blast down into the city. A massive pink explosion rocked the city, scattering parts of shattered buildings everywhere. Still laughing, she floated in midair watching as the smoke slowly cleared and extent of the damage became clear. The entire city was a series of broken and ruined windowless buildings. It appeared that nothing down there could have lived through such a blast.

"Energy source detected…" Android 22 began. "Suggested course of action is…" His words cut off as a fist smashed him down into a ruined building that had somehow remained standing through all of the combat.

At the same time, another fighter phased in behind Dr. Gero, ramming his fist through the chest of the Android. A smaller explosion filled the air as he did so.

Android 21 looked on in shock as Super Saiyan Future Gohan appeared behind Dr. Gero. Gohan wasted no time in smashing his fist through the chest of Dr. Gero before firing an energy blast into the hole he had created. When the smoke cleared, Dr. Gero was gone. Instead, many small Android parts rained down upon the broken landscape. "You! You killed him!" she shouted. She was in complete shock which quickly gave way to her smiling. "You freed me from that monster."

"If he is a monster, why do you serve him?" Future Gohan questioned her. "Why did you blow up this city?"

"I had no choice. He had the ability to shut me down, kill me. I had to wait till exactly the right moment to rebel against him. You did for me. So, thanks for you for that. I am willing to spare your life and the lives of your friends. All but Goku, he still has to die."

"I don't even know who you are," Goku protested, taken aback by her sheer hate. "We have never met before today."

"You wouldn't remember me," she sadly. "It is because of you that I took the steps to find Dr. Gero in the first place and agreed to become an Android."

"You agreed to become an Android?" Gohan asked her shocked.

"I believed that Goku had killed my father. I was consumed by hate, and I thought that only Dr. Gero could give me the revenge that I wanted."

Goku looked on her with pity. "I didn't kill your father. And if he died in one of my battles, I am sorry, but surely the Dragonballs would have restored him to life."

"Yes he was revived, but when he came back I was gone, and he spent his final years a lonely man before dying to a heart attack," Android 21 explained. "I didn't know that until I saw a file on the dragonballs and their capabilities. Dr. Gero lied to me. After that I started to do some digging into his files. He forgot that I hacked his system to find him in the first place. I discovered that Dr. Gero had plans for an ultimate Android, one that will require the cores of several of his pervious Androids. After that I kept up the front, but I have been plotting to save all of us. I reprogrammed Android 22 with an override, and I gave him free will." She shook her head at herself. "And to think that I once served him willingly."

"If you have free will, why does dad have to die?" Gohan questioned her. "Why not just walk away from the battle right now? As long as you don't hurt anyone else, we will let you go." Gohan could see from the way that his future-self bristled that he didn't agree. Still, Gohan was sure he could convince the others, and he didn't want his nightmares of watching his friends die to become reality.

"I couldn't remove that piece of programming or Dr. Gero would have known. Goku for the lives of everyone on this planet. I think that is fair trade. Oh I will have to take a Dragonball as well so that you can't revive him afterwards." Android 21 said.

"And if we refuse to allow him to fight alone?" Future Gohan asked.

"If you refuse my kind offer, I can't promise that the rest of you will walk away from the battles today. Upset me enough, and I might reconsider my decision not to kill you," Android 21 told him calmly.

"Your friends tried that. It didn't work out well for them," Future Gohan pointed out. "And we haven't even begun to show you the fruits of our training. For the past three years, our entire focus has been your defeat. I would have let you live, given you a chance. You were never in my future, so I didn't know that you were a monster like the other Androids. But then, you proved that you were every bit the monster that they were. So now, you die," Future spat at her, venom clear in his voice. "And you're never going to get your match with Goku because I am going to end you right now and right now." As he spoke he powered up, his golden aura shooting upwards as he did so. Without wasting another word he vanished from site appearing above her. To his shock, his downward kick was caught by her hand, and suddenly he was on the defensive.

Calmly catching his leg as it descended downward, Android 21 responded by raising her other hand and blasting him with a series of energy balls. She continued to pour it on as the smoke cloud above her got larger and larger. Finally she ended the barrage with a blast capable of leveling a major city.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vegeta continued to make a mockery of Android 17, who had come out of his last energy blast with one arm entirely crippled as it hung on by a mere thread. Not bothering to become a Super Saiyan, he nevertheless easily blocked or dodged each of the attacks from his foe. "I trained three years for this? You are the big scary monsters that my son has had nightmares about?"

"Damn it," Android 17 swore. "I guess I have no choice. It might kill me, but I am dead otherwise. Time to active my Super abilities."

That statement brought Vegeta who at this point was bored and ready to move in for the kill up short. "Super abilities? Has the damage gone to your head?"

Android 17 gave a pained laugh at this. "The good doctor upgraded us, because of the big fight on Earth. He saw that we needed more than our original powers. So he gave us a Super upgrade, inspired by the Kaio-ken that the Earth fighters and Piccolo use. It lets us greatly increase our powers, but it's pretty unstable. The last time I activated it, I had to go in for repairs afterwards. It almost shock my entire body apart. The newer models have that strength built in naturally, for us it had to be done as upgrades."

_Shit! Shit! Shit! They are even stronger than they were in my timeline Trunks thought_. _I can't let Android 18 activate this upgrade. I can't take the chance._ Quickly he flashed into his Super Saiyan form and began to power up. The ground around him began to split as he took in more and more power.

This caused Android 18, Vegeta and Android 17 to take their eyes away from the ongoing battle.

"Trunks what are you doing?" Vegeta asked him. "I told you that this was my battle to fight."

"Ending this, father. I won't allow this world to suffer like mine did. I would love to be able to engage in a protracted battle, but I can't take the risk that they are somehow stronger than us," Trunks replied. As he spoke he vanished, appearing in front of Android 18 palm raised outward. "Time to take a page from my father's book. Big Bang Attack!" he yelled as he fired a blue energy wave into the face of Android 18.

Above them the sky lit up pink, and moments later the world around them exploded.

* * *

"Not good," Piccolo thought as he watched the fight play out between Future Gohan and Android 21. Although Future Gohan was bringing his best to this fight, Android 21 currently had him outmatched. And that wasn't even counting that this other Android could enter the fight at any moment. Best to remove that threat. "I think it is time for me to enter the fray," he told Gohan as he took off his cape and hat, and handed them over to Tien.

Gohan nodded at this. "Be careful, Mr. Piccolo."

"Don't worry kiddo. This Android isn't going to know what hit him," Piccolo responded as he flew over towards Android 22.

"Hey Android, let's go me and you," Piccolo told him.

"My scans suggest such a fight would end poorly for you," Android 22 responded.

"How about you attack and find out?" Piccolo dared him.

"I am programmed to kill Goku," Android 22 told him. "I have no desire to fight you or any others."

This brought Piccolo up short. "So if we left you alone, you wouldn't kill anyone?"

"I would kill Goku, and I would defend myself."

"So you wouldn't conquer the world?"

"I am not programmed to conquer the world. Only to kill Goku."

"Well Gohan…both of them would be upset if you killed Goku, so I will stop you for that reason alone," Piccolo told him.

"100% probability that attacking me will result in your defeat," Android 22 stated. "Advise against such a course of action."

"Shut up and fight," Piccolo said as he charged forward, black fire appearing in his aura. This trick had worked with the Androids in the Future and he was much stronger now after fusion with Kami, and his time training in the HTC with Goku. He landed a solid blow to the chest of his foe, and followed it by a series of punches and kicks. The black fire enhanced his attacks, and furthermore it spread to Android 22 with each blow.

Although the punches and kicks didn't have any noticeable effect on Android 22, the black fire did, leaving behind small patches of burns with each blow. This fire had the internal sensors of Android 22 screaming rapidly in his head until he silenced them. Glancing over at his readouts he saw a 1% increase in his energy reserves. The little fires while they stung had done no major damage. Reaching out he grabbed Piccolo and wrapped him in a bear hug, turning his energy absorption up to maximum.

Feeling himself grabbed by Android 22, Piccolo struggled to escape, elbowing his for to no effect. And what's more was he could feel his aura beginning to fade_. He is absorbing my energy! I need to escape._ Activating his Kaio-ken, he felt his power triple for a brief second before it was suddenly yanked away. _What the hell?_ "I need help," he called out through the mental link. "Be careful, this Android appears to absorb energy through is body, not just his hands. He was able to shut down my Kaio-ken as well."

The moment he saw he Piccolo grabbed in a bear hug, Gohan was already moving in to assist. Getting the warning about the energy absorption, he backed off for a few moments to consider. "Do you think we could overload him?" he sent back through the mental link, while he transformed into a Super Saiyan.

"Yes, at the very least you should get him to drop me," Piccolo sent back. He tried to do a short range teleport to safety, but his focus was wavering with all the energy that he was losing. "Hurry," he sent out weakly.

"Let's blast him all together," Gohan called out to the others. "Give it all you have."

"What about Piccolo?" Tien asked.

"He will be fine," Gohan told the others. Piccolo had to be fine. He couldn't lose him.

Energy reserves approaching 25%, Android 22 noticed as he continued to steal energy from Piccolo. The Namekian had more energy than his sensors had first picked up on. Even accounting for the fact that it was known that they could hide their true power, the amount of energy he was absorbing was puzzling. Welcome, but puzzling. His models showed that he should have gotten less than 15% towards his storage capability from draining Piccolo. "If you cease to struggle, this will go much quicker," he told Piccolo. "I won't drain you completely, just enough to remove you from the fight. Your death serves no purpose. Calculations suggest that you won't live through an energy blast strong enough to force me to drop your body."

Still linked mind to mind, the three humans plotted how to best combine their blasts.

"We should do it just as we practiced," Tien told them.

"But such a blast could kill Piccolo, and Gohan will be adding his as well," Yamcha pointed out.

"We have no choice though, we may only get one chance at this," Krillin reminded them.

Together, the three humans powered up, activating their Kaio-ken to fuel their power. Only Tien started to create an energy attack as he rose into the air. On the ground, Krillin and Yamcha linked hands and began to funnel their energy upwards, flashing around Tien in a swirl of blue and white, tinted by the red of the Kaio-ken aura.

"Hey, Android!" Tien shouted. "See if you can absorb this!" Tien funneled the energy being given to him from Yamcha and Krillin and mixed it with his own energy, raising a hand above his head and gathering the energy there. It looked for moments like Tien was creating his own version of the Supernova attack, as the energy ball above him got larger and larger with each passing second. A closer look at the energy ball showed that it in fact had more in common with Yamcha's Super Spirit Ball. Finally, the attack was ready. "Be ready to do whatever you are about to do Gohan," Tien told him mentally.

"I got it. As soon as you fire the blast, I will save Piccolo," Gohan explained. "I figure that is the best chance to catch the Android off guard," Gohan responded the same way.

Despite the fact that Piccolo was having his energy slowly drained, he was still able to focus and maintain the connection.

"Kaio-ken times fifty: Supernova Kame Ball!" Tien shouted as he fired the energy ball directly at the Android, which flew right past him seemingly missing before angling around to strike him in the back. Again and again, the energy ball struck Android 22.

As soon as Tien fired his blast, Gohan used his instant movement to appear right next to the Android, already transformed into a Super Saiyan with his aura sparking around him. Androids didn't have pressure points to exploit, but it stood to reason that they were slightly weaker right at their joints. Gohan unleashed a series of calculated blows aimed at getting the Android to drop Piccolo. Shockwaves shook the battlefield as Gohan repeatedly slammed his fists into the shoulders of Android 22. Large dents appeared in the outer skin of the Android, as even his tough enhanced armor couldn't stand the repeated blows of a Full Power Super Saiyan. Finally he dropped Piccolo, and Gohan grabbed him before using instant movement to travel to another nearby island. "Have a Senzu Bean," he told Piccolo as he handed one over.

"Thank you, Gohan," Piccolo said as he eat the bean. "I was unable to move. Even the blackfire didn't seem to be burning through him quickly enough."

Gohan waved his thanks away, "What is important is we know what this Android is capable of now. So, he can be defeated by a plan that we come up with."

Back on the battlefield the smoke was clearing from the final blast that had exploded the energy ball. Scattered among the ruins were the pieces of Android 22, an arm here and a leg there. Tien managed a brief smile before he fell out of the sky, tumbling to the ground, where he lay unmoving.

Krillin hurried over clutching the bag of Senzu beams. "What happened?" he asked Yamcha

"He…at the last moment he fed his life force into the blast," Yamcha explained.

"Shit," Krillin swore. "The entire reason for us learning to merge our energy was so he wouldn't have to do it." He lowered his hand as he spoke. "I can't feel his energy at all he's gone. Damn it!"

"The strain of the Kaio-ken must have sped the process of his life force being consumed up," Yamcha said. "He knew he was going to die, that was why he was so calm right before he fired the attack. I thought he was just focused."

Gohan appeared next to them guard at ready. Hanging on to one arm was Piccolo. "What happened? Piccolo said that Tien's Ki is gone."

"The plan worked," Yamcha explained.

"But, Tien decided at the last moment to pour his life force into it. That was his undoing," Krillin explained as tears leaked down his face.

* * *

_New Namek: Age 787: Future Timeline: Universe 10_

"Thank you for waiting!" the announcer said to the waiting crowd. "After a long day of fighting, we have narrowed the field to the top sixteen fighters. They have been seeded in order of the results of their earlier fights. Although all are undefeated, the judges created seeding based on fighting styles and fight results." He gave a chuckle at this. "The formula is pretty complex, and I confess that I don't exactly understand it. It doesn't matter though as all fights are straightforward from this point on. Now we will reveal the grand prize for the winner of the first universal tournament. The winner will have his dreams granted thanks to the wish granting power of the Namekian dragonballs, graciously provided by our hosts. But they won't be given just one wish or two wishes; they will be given three wishes on the Namekian dragonballs! And all they have to do to claim that prize is defeat the other fighters in field." He paused to let the crowd cheer at the news of his announcement. "Here are the rules. The matches will be a series of one on one battles without time limit. The fights will continue until one fighter has been knocked out, gives up or is knocked out of the ring. There is no killing, and no weapons allowed in the ring outside of natural weapons. Fighting first is our number one seed Trunks against the number 16 seed Demon King Dabura. Fighters please step into the ring."

Time Patrol Trunks stepped forward, taking off his sword and handing it over to a Namekian for safe keeping. He was wearing his trademark capsule corporation jacket, although this wasn't the original one, it was a reproduction. The original one had been destroyed over a decade ago in a hard fought battle. This version was much more durable, almost doubling as armor. He had decided to take part in this tournament when he had heard about it upon his arrival in the future timeline of universe ten. Now he was facing a foe that he had fought before in another universe, Dabura. _Only this one was missing the M on his forehead that signified that he had a Majin boost. Which didn't make him less dangerous, but it meant that he likely wouldn't be much of a challenge. Still Dabura still had an evil demon sword he could create and his spit which could turn someone to stone. Best to end this fight quickly and not take any chances._ "You should just quit now," he told Dabura. "I have fought you…your race before, and you don't stand any chance against me."

"You are cocky for a human," Dabura answered as he began to power up.

Trunks laughed at this. "See that is your mistake, you assume that I am purely human." Trunks flared his blue aura charging forward. Thus far he hadn't needed to use any of his Super Saiyan transformations and he didn't think he was going to need to use them here either. _It was best for him to conceal the fact that he was a Saiyan from the other fighters as long as possible. Currently his foes assumed that he was just a really strong human._ Seeing no reason to waste any more time he super speed from his spot, appearing behind Dabura, and kicking him in the back, which sent him flying forward. He followed up that kick with an energy blast, sending a stunned Dabura spiraling out of bounds. Trunks turned his back as he saw Dabura hit the ground, stepping down from the ring and collecting his sword again.

"The winner is Trunks, who justifies his number one seed by winning with a quick ring out! Let's hear it for Trunks who is moving on to the quarterfinals." The crowd went nuts and Trunks raised a hand to acknowledge the cheering. "Also please pay your respects for his overmatched, but brave foe Dabura." The cheers which much less now. "Moving on, our next match is between Cell and Ragnarock. Will both fighters please step into the ring?"

_Cell, Trunks knew that name. He was a Bio Android created by Dr. Gero in some universes. In his original universe Cell had terrorized the Earth, killing Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo before an enraged Gohan had reached Super Saiyan two, and killed him instantly. He had kept an eye on this version of Cell, expecting the same sort of behavior, even going as far to approach him for a chat. He had been shocked when Cell informed him that the Earth was still around and in the process of rebuilding, and that further more he was known as a hero there for ending the threat of the Androids. He explained the chain of events, and that Piccolo had somehow arrived from the Past timeline to assist him, and that Piccolo possessed a method of traveling in time. As crazy as these events had seemed, a quick check of his watch, which was tied into the viewing screens at the Hub, confirmed that the events had happened as Cell had stated. As for what Cell wanted, he wanted to become the strongest fighter in the universe. The really interesting part was that Cell had been there for the rebirth of Majin Buu, the moment he transformed from a fat pink blob into a real threat. If Buu had simply been in his fat form, Trunks could have crushed him. He knew what it took to kill Buu, he had managed it in other universes. But this universes version of Buu was currently beyond him, and he was only getting more so as he continued to absorb the best from each planet he visited. Currently he was limited by the speed of the spaceship he had borrowed, but it was only a matter of time before he figured out that it was possible to breach the multiverse, and that he already seen how to do so. Cell had accidently given him the knowledge of how to do so, by Shifting away in front of him. There was no denying that Cell was strong though, how strong Trunks wasn't sure because he hadn't seen Cell have to go all out yet. One thing was for sure, he was stronger than any Cell that Trunks had fought before. And although the idea seemed crazy on the surface, Trunks was considering offering him a spot on the team he assembled to hunt down Majin Buu._

While Trunks was focused inward, the fight between Cell and Ragnarock had begun with Ragnarock having the early upper hand as he was pushing Cell towards the edge of the ring with repeated blows.

"Cell seems unable to keep up with the speed of Ragnarock," the announcer said. "Will this be another quick victory in what according to our seeding would be a major upset?"

It wasn't that Cell was unable to track the movements of his foe, it was that his foe had no Ki for him to sense so he was going entirely by eyesight alone. Unlike with the Androids who he had been massively stronger than, Ragnarock was a foe that was around his current level. _He hadn't had a chance to draw out his power any since he had been on the defensive from the word go. There! Ragnarock was showing a pattern in his attacks._ Lining up his blocks before the next attack even begun, Cell countered with a kick that sent Ragnarock staggering backwards. Staying on the defensive, Cell spoke to his foe. "You are interesting my friend. Are you a machine? Is that why you have no Ki?"

Ragnarock grinned, not phased at all by the kick. This Cell was the first one to land a blow on him. And it had hurt to boot. Finally he was going to get the fight that he wanted and able to fulfill the wishes of his Master Odin at the same time. "I am the herald of the God Odin, it is due to his wisdom and abilities that my Ki as you put it doesn't show up to your senses."

"And this Odin is stronger than you are?" Cell asked.

"Many times stronger," Ragnarock confirmed.

"Too bad he isn't here for me to fight."

"He doesn't soil his hands with the affairs of lesser beings. He sent me here to test the strength and worthiness of those mortals in this universe. The end is upon us and Odin seeks worthy fighters to stand with him in the futile attempt to stave off the end of days. For even the Gods must fall."

"Suicidal fights aren't my style," Cell answered.

"Pity, because I sense greater power within you. Even as you try and hide your true strength," Ragnarock told him.

"You aren't ready for my true strength," Cell told him calmly. "This fight would be over in an instant if I unleashed a fraction of what I am capable of. And honestly what fun would that be?" The entire time they had been talking, Cell had been gathering his strength for their next engagement. _Although his foe had the upper hand early on, it was about to be quickly reversed. He would push the limits of his foe, keeping his strength on a somewhat even playing field for his enjoyment._

"Your words…hold the ring of truth to them," Ragnarock said excitement in his voice. "Let us resume the fight then." With that he vanished in a flash of super speed, trying to catch his foe with his defenses down.

"Ragnarock has retaken the offensive! He is attempting to move so fast that it is impossible to track him through eyesight alone," the announcer told the crowd. "If you watch the view screens however you can see him in action. Neither fighter can see the screens, therefore neither can gain an unfair edge from them."

Cell met his foe in midair, as they exchanged blows. This time however the results were different, and he was the one overwhelming his foe through sheer speed. A punch to the gut doubled Ragnarock over and Cell was able to follow up with a double ax handle that spend his foe crashing through the ring. Cell had angled the attack so that Ragnarock would hit the center of the ring. He frowned as he saw his foe crash through the ring however_. He hadn't put that much power into his attack. Did this mean that Ragnarock was out of the ring because he was not moving in a hole on the ground where the center of the ring had been?_

* * *

_Past Timeline_

Although Future Gohan hadn't been seriously hurt by that last attack he was starting to get slightly worried. _Android 21 didn't seem at all bothered by his attacks thus far. And while he hadn't unleashed his true power just yet, he had been hoping that the trend of easy fights would continue. Somehow she was leagues stronger than the other Androids. Several times stronger than any Android he had fought before. _ Drawing in more power he cupped his hands to his side. "Ka-ma-ha-me-ha!" he shouted as he through a massive energy wave at her. Given that he had fired the blast at close range she was unable to raise any defense in time. _I caught her off guard! Time to finish this!_ Now he unleashed his true power, pouring it into the energy wave.

When he finally lowered his hands, she still floated in midair unharmed by his attacks, other than her outfit which was torn to shreds, revealing large amounts of skin. _Not possible!_ "What the hell are you?" he asked with the first trace of fear appearing his voice.

"You are a Super Saiyan. You can call me a Super Android," she explained. "I am the peak of fighting ability and technology, and for your sake, I hope that wasn't peak of your abilities or this fight is going to be very boring. You can still walk away, as I said, I only want Goku."

"Over my dead body," Future Gohan spat at her.

She shrugged at that. "As you wish. I believe it is my turn to make the next move now." With that she closed the distance between them in a second punching him in the gut and causing him to spit up blood all over her. "Disgusting," she complained as Future Gohan crashed to the ground below her.

As he hit the ground, Future Gohan's hair returned to black as he passed out.

* * *

_A/N: Shit just got real! I planned all along for Tien to fall victim to the Androids, but as I wrote this chapter I changed it so that he got a chance to go out on top, dying through his own technique. Unlike against Nappa, it did the job this time. _

_Meanwhile Future Gohan is down from a single blow._

_The fights resume next chapter. Things are only going to get more intense from here. I will post updated power levels at some point in the future. For now Android 21's real strength needs to remain a mystery. _

_Also for those who this applies to, I hope that they have had a wonderful Easter._

* * *

_Reviews_

_Q: Great chapter and so the fight has begun. It seems to be going well for our hero's, I was a bit worried due to Gero being aware of the Future counterparts and taking precautions but it seems that they weren't enough but I'm expecting things to take a turn for the worse for our hero's (as it wouldn't be DBZ if things didn't go to shit for them somehow LOL)._

_Until the next one._

_**A: Lol, very true. He took precautions, but he couldn't guess at the fruits of their training in the HTC. He happened to make Android 21 as strong as he was capable of making her though**_

_Q: (From chapter 6)_

_Senzu beans heal completely not partially. And there is no harmful effect from eatimg too many. Yajorobi ate a whole basket full._

_**A: That is a change that I made in the story. It seems strange to me that in the Buu saga they only wanted to give Videl a partial one considering that she was likely stronger than Yajorobi. I am pretty sure the scene of him eating all of them is anime only also. I decided that there was some injures that the Senzu beans couldn't fully heal, otherwise it was far too easy to abuse them. And I didn't want to end up with Saiyans who be following the logical path ended up overpowered. Because if they really wanted to maximize their training they should have kept injuring each other before healing with the Senzu beans for maximum Zenkai boosts. **_

_Q: (From chapter 5)_

_Death by sun, Eh? Dat be some F*cked Crap ( Still a good story though )_

_**A: I am twisted person, what can I say. I had a lot of fun writing that scene though.**_

_Q: (From chapter 6)_

_Hmm... What happens when The sun goes supernova? Drifting in space, Slowly Going insane due to boredom..._

_**A: Far be it for me to say this considering that I write fan fictions for DBZ, but I believe that you are overthinking this lol. To answer your question though, when the Sun goes supernova, Garlic Jr will be free. He can fly and he can travel through space. Though by that point I believe he will be truly insane because of his time in the Sun.**_

_Q: (From chapter 8)_

_See_

_**A: I see many things. What specifically do you want me to see? **_

_Q: (From chapter 7)_

_Wow man, this is serious business. This story it's just great. Though I wonder how they will handle the androids. Considering the power levels then the androids were in the 400 million. And no is yet close to that even with Zenkais._

_It's incredible how you inverted things and yet kept them the same way. In the original timeline Piccolo fighting with 17 after his fusion with Kami lead Cell to the Androids. Now he is doing the same with his Kaioken. You must love this. You change the original Anime and yet it still retains some of it. I tip my hat to you._

_Awesome story, keep it up_

_**A: Thank you for the kind words. How did you get 400 million for the Androids? I really do enjoy writing this. I am glad that it shows. **_

_Q: (From Chapter 8)_

_Nice chapter as usual. It's good to read that the Kais aren't useless. And this actually explains how the Supreme Kais fought Buu mostly even considering South Kai._

_I really hope to read Gohan getting stronger than the others. He is in a dead body, which can't tire out. He can train for days without having to stop. So that gives him an advantage to close the gap towards the Androids. Not sure about how Cell will appear here though._

_Anyhow, great chapter-._

_**A: Yep his training while dead set the stage for his training later which allowed him to become the strongest Z-Fighter. I am handling Cell in a way I have never seen in any story. **_

_Q: (From chapter 10)_

_Nice chapter._

_Now that Future Gohan has properly healed he must obtain another Zenkai right?_

_Boy, is Future Gohan up to a big surprise when he finds that these Androids are stronger than in his timeline. Hopefully all the training with help him and Trunks beat Cell in the future._

_**A: Yes and no. He gets one, but it isn't big enough to be really noticeable. Who says Cell is a bad guy? **_

_Q: __I came to this fan fiction when there is only 12 chapters, so I don't know about how long it takes for you to upload a new chapter, I like to know so I have an idea of how long I have to wait. This is one of the best fan fictions I've read in a while and I hope you update soon!_

_**A: Answered via PM. **_


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